Pokemon Adventures: Destiny of Balance
by TKhaos
Summary: A century has passed since the fall of Team Galactic. The story takes place in a completely new region with a cast made entirely of original characters. 13 year old Damian Acacia shall begin his journey but he must first pass a test he failed six times.
1. Prologue: Welcome to the Proto Region

The world of Pokémon is ever expanding. New species of Pokémon are appearing worldwide. Nearly a century has passed since the rise and fall of the all so called evil 'Teams'. The heroic Pokémon trainers who were responsible for the defeat of each team and their rivals have faded away, their names having been etched into the legends of the Pokémon world. The direct descendents of these heroes are said to possess a unique connection with Pokémon, one no ordinary trainer would have, as the trait was genetic. This gene not only allows the inheritors to establish a deeper connection with Pokémon, but it also allows them sync their spirit to the Pokémon's own, essentially becoming one with it. As the Pokémon gets stronger, so too does the strength of the trainer grow. There are few trainers who possess this trait, and even fewer in whom this trait is active. Each region has its own share of these special trainers; however the region with the most concentrated amount of these trainers is oddly enough, the newest addition to the Pokémap, the Proto Region. The Proto Region is special in the sense that it is both a relic of the past and vision of the future. All things came together to live as one. The true nature of the region is the world's life. The Proto Region is the bridge between all regions, the bridge between the past and the future, ever growing and changing, it is the center of the Pokémon world! The story begins in one of the largest cities in the Proto Region, Metroplex City; a boy shall begin his journey into the world of Pokémon. As the hero emerges, so too does the face of evil. The adventure will be long and perilous. He shall face challenges like none before him have ever encountered. Awaken young trainer! Awaken to the world of Pokémon!


	2. Trainer Test, Damian's gift!

"Damian" A voice called out sweetly. It was the voice of a girl.

"Nghhh…Zzzzzzz" Damian Acacia, a boy of age thirteen, was sleeping heavily. There was a bit of drool on his left cheek, his mouth was wide open and he was snoring pretty loud.

"Damian, wake up little brother" The girl said again, just as sweetly as she had before.

"ZzZzzzzZzzzz…five more minutes Denise…five more…ZzzzZzz"

"WAKE UP YOU IDIOT! Your trainer exam is today! You don't wanna flunk for the third year in a row do ya?"Denise's voice went from sweet to angry this time. The boy she was trying to wake up, her brother, now literally jumped from his bed from sheer shock.

"Huh? Wha- oh crap, it's TODAY?"Damian said, his eyes widened, he jumped out of bed and ran straight for the bathroom to brush his teeth. "Crap, Crap, Crap, Crap, CRAP!"

"Damn it Damian! Don't tell me you forgot AGAIN!"Denise scolded him, being fifteen and the older sibling of the two of them. "Jeez, you're just plain hopeless aren't you.

"Calm down Denise, I'll ace it this time. No Sweat" Damian mumbled while brushing his teeth. He finished up, opening the door and grabbing his bag. He had changed into his travel gear while in the bathroom. It was a pair of snowboarding goggles, a black t-shirt and blue cargo jeans. They were his favorite since they were a gift from his older brother for his fifth birthday, three years before he disappeared.

"Yea, like I haven't heard that before. You say it every time you're going to go take the exam and you've failed it 6 times now. They have it once every 6 months and it's so easy, how do you even manage to fail it?"Denise said as though it was nothing.

"You're one to talk, you passed it five years ago and you still haven't taken the league challenge! What's the matter? Are you chicken?"Damian mocked her, he had a grin plastered on his face.

"If you would stop failing the test and just hurry up and become a trainer, I wouldn't have to stay home to take care of you, sheesh!" Denise groaned. Damian's grin quickly faded and was replaced with a look of sadness.

"I'll pass it this time Sis…I promise!" Damian exclaimed as he ran down the stairs and out of the house.

"Hm…maybe I shouldn't have said that…he tries hard after all, he's just no good at those written exams they make you take" Denise sighed.

As Damian left the house, he saw a large crowd gathering in front of the PokéTv station screen. On it was a recorded battle between one of the Elite Four, the 'Ace of Flames' _Areo_ and a young man from Metroplex City, 'Vega'.

"Is that really him?"Damian's eyes widened and his mouth opened up wide in awe. "VEGA? Three years since he became a trainer…tch, no wonder he's gotten so far ahead of me…he even evolved his Shinx into a Luxray… but I'll catch up to him!"

Damian's eyes shifted looking towards the digital clock just underneath the screen. "SHOOT! 10:17? I'm almost out of time!" Damian made a mad dash towards the center of the city. He was heading to the Stadium where the test was being held. "Che, I'm half way there but there's only twelve minutes left!"

"Damian, need a lift?"A stranger called out to Damian from in a car driving by, it was actually one of the proctors. This woman was no ordinary proctor though; she was none other than the Pokémon Professor Acacia, Damian's mother. "Hm, I figured you'd be late again, sorry I haven't been home in so long honey, but the research just never ends. Happy Birthday Damian"

"M-Mom, I-Is that you?"Damian looked at her and jumped back as though he had just seen a ghost. He hadn't seen his mother in six months; she was always busy with Pokémon research. "Thanks, I wouldn't have been able to make it in time"

Professor Acacia had chocolate brown eyes and raven black hair in a ponytail. The bangs were curved in a way that covered her left eye. She was very beautiful and of fair height standing at five feet seven inches. Her skin was a peachy color. She was wearing a typical white lab coat and a pair of black pants. Damian got into the car with her and they drove to the stadium. They had reached their destination in five minutes. Upon reaching the stadium the two exited the car and Professor Acacia promptly turned toward Damian. "Go on Damian, the test is starting any minute now. Did you bring Eon with you?"

"Of course I brought him mom! Brother gave him to me just before he left, he's my very first Pokémon" Damian smiled. His older brother was someone he deeply respected. His brother was kind and a very skilled trainer to top it off. Ever since he could talk, he only said praises for his brother and Damian always wanted to emulate him.

"Good luck honey, do your best."Professor Acacia said with a smile as the two entered the stadium and went in opposite directions. Damian entered the examination room only to find it empty and almost completely destroyed. Half the room was frozen over.

"Aw man, this time too? He always gets like this before the examination. Guess he doesn't like Pokémon trainers much."Damian sighed. As he turned to exit the room a flurry of Ice Shard flew past him freezing over a corner of the hallway. "Tch…What am I going to with you?"

"Don't let it get away!"A man yelled. There was a group of proctors chasing the Pokémon that just fired the Ice Shards. It was a Weavile, and a very disobedient one at that. It fired another barrage of Ice Shard at the men who were chasing it. A few of them were frozen solid, the Weavile snickered and kept moving and bumped into Damian's legs and then backed up charging an Ice Shard. When it got a good look at Damian, the Weavile recognized him.

"Misbehaving again eh?"Damian said with a grin and knelt down in front of it. The Weavile extended its claw upwards and Damian gave it a high-five. "Nice to see you again buddy."

"Damian? Damian Acacia? No wonder Weavile stopped attacking. It really seems to like you huh?"One of the proctors called out to Damian.

"Oh! Hey there Mr. Davis. Heh heh, sorry, I dunno why Weavile does this on test days."Damian responded with a nervous laugh. "Come on Weavile, apologize"

The Weavile crossed his arms and turned its head away. "Grrr…."

"Weavile, apologize right now."Damian said in an ever so slightly harsher tone. The Weavile grunted and turned towards the proctor, it bowed apologetically.

"Ha ha, don't worry about it. We'll have them defrosted in no time!"The proctor laughed half-heartedly. He was beyond mad, but he was also grateful to Damian for stopping Weavile. "However it looks like we'll have to skip the written exam this year, Weavile froze over almost every one of the rooms."

At that very moment, Damian's eyes lit up with joy. He was definitely going to pass the exam and get his Pokédex this year. "So we're skipping to the battling portion! Woo!"Damian cheered as they headed for the arena where the trainers would battle as their exams. Damian held a Pokéball in his right hand, it was giving off a faint white glow.

"Eon, this is the day!" Damian whispered to this complete red Pokéball. Inside it, an Eevee was always sleeping peacefully. This Eevee however, is differently colored then most of its kind. It is a 'Shiny' Eevee, but that's not all that's special about it. Weavile walked beside Damian, it considered him a very close friend, though it did not know why. There was just something about Damian, something that made him able to connect with Pokémon even if he had just met them. Damian saw the Proctor type in 'L' 'T' 'W' 'A' into the keypad on the wall next to the door to the arena. There was a few more letters after that but Damian's gazed shifted away from the keypad. The light above the door turned green and the door itself opened. Damian walked in first with Weavile, it was actually the first time he had gotten to come in here since he always failed the written exams.

"For this examination, you will be using a Pokémon provided to you by the proctors. Damian, in your case you will be using Weavile. "The Proctor stated looking over at Damian. "Each of you will be facing a Proctor. The battle will be recorded by the cameras and analyzed by our computers. It will not only test your ability to command the Pokémon you are given, but your ability to think under pressure."

"Alright, is everyone ready?"The proctor asked. The door to arena opened again, a young man, around the same age as Damian stepped through. He had messy silver-grey hair and misty blue eyes. He was dressed in a white hooded sweater, a pair of slightly ripped grey jeans.

"Shit, sorry I'm late!" The boy yelled panicking slightly. He had made it just as the test was going to begin.

"Hey Jack, heh heh glad you made it man!"Damian called out with a smile on his face. The boy, Jack Anadarko was Damian's best friend since they were only five years old.

"Eh heh heh heh" Jack laughed nervously. "Traffic was crazy, so I got out of the car and onto my board, but I ran over a Poochyena's tail and got chased by it for longer than I expected. Whew, glad I made it just in time though! Ha ha ha!"

"Hm, looks like everyone's here. Okay-"The proctor was cut off by a girl yelling at him.

"GET ON WITH IT!"The girl yelled at him. Her voice was filled with a lot of pain, she was mad about something but what was it?

"Maria Owens, calm down. Try to be a little more patient" The proctor said, but that only made the girl, Maria, even angrier. She pointed at Damian.

"I've been waiting THREE YEARS for this idiot to get this far in the test, yet he fails the written portion every time!"Maria shouted with rage. "Now he finally gets a chance to become a trainer, and I can finally take him on while we're on equal grounds, I think I've waited long enough! SO GET ON WITH IT!"

"_Yikes! Why does it seem like this girl hates me? I didn't even do anything to her…did I? If I did I sure don't remember her. Black hair in a ponytail just past her shoulders… brown eyes…around an inch or two shorter than me…so five feet five inches…and…those clothes…a black t-shirt and some…really…really short shorts?…She's not really ringing any bells."_Damian thought as he looked at Maria with a drop of sweat going down the back of his head.

"Dude…either she has a crush on you or she really, really hates you. What'd you do to her man?"Jack asked jovially.

"NOTHING! I don't even know who she is!"Damian exclaimed, he quickly covered his mouth after glancing over at Maria who gave him an icy cold glare. He froze is fear, when his father was around, he would always tell Damian that women are very scary when they get mad.

"Ha ha ha, looks like she hit you with a Mean Look! Or is that a glare?"Jack nudged Damian chuckling to himself.

"Alright, alright, we'll start the exams."The Proctor said. "The Examination will be done all at once. Damian" The proctor turned towards Damian. "I will be your opponent. My name is Professor Reverend."

Damian and the professor headed to the opposite ends of one battle field. It was the typical version; the white lines were the boundaries of the match, though it didn't really matter. The technology in the Proto Region had advanced far enough that it was now possible to create a second space. The lines glowed and flashed. When the light cleared, the entire arena was empty except for Professor Reverend, Damian and his Weavile.

"Alright professor, it's a one on one match right?"Damian questioned, he already knew the answer, though it wouldn't hurt to confirm it.

"That's right."The professor nodded. Weavile stepped up in front of Damian and stood there with a smirk and crossed arms. The professor reached into his pocket and pulled out a Pokéball. "Weavile won't battle with anyone but you for some reason and it is a very strong Pokémon at that. We'll just have to face it head on! Go Machamp!"

The professor threw the Pokéball and it opened up letting out the four armed fighter Pokémon, Machamp. The Weavile lost its smirk, and now got into a defensive stance, it knew it was up against a Pokémon with type advantage and letting its guard down would be disastrous.

"Ice Shard."Damian said calmly, there was a smile on his face and his eyes were covered by shadow. The Weavile create blue energy in its hand and pointed it towards the Machamp letting lose a barrage of ice crystals. The Machamp caught several of them in each of its hands. It attempted to throw them back but the Weavile was gone. The Machamp look around frantically until it saw a shadow in front of it on the ground. "Ariel Ace!" The Weavile swooped downwards at high speeds rammed into the Machamp dealing heavy damage. However it wasn't down, not by a long shot. Machamp grabbed Weavile's arms using two of its hands then hit it with a fierce punch sending it flying back towards Damian. Weavile landed in front of Damian on its back. It was dazed from the punch. "That move was d-"Damian was cut off by the professor.

"Dynamic punch, if it hits, it instantly puts the Pokémon into a dazed and confused state."Professor Reverend explained. "Machamp has been trained very well, it knows what to do with a trainer having to command it."

"Tch, Weavile, you okay? Weavile!"Damian called out to it. Weavile shook its head and snapped out of its confusion. "That's the way, Weavile try using A-!" before Damian could finish it's command the Weavile knew what to do, it jumped up into the air and Ice Shard, as they flew towards the Machamp, Weavile dove at it with its claw extended and radiating a dark energy.

"Machamp, use Fire Punch" The professor commanded and Machamp's upper arms were lit ablaze, It punched right through the ice and jumped upwards towards Weavile aiming to finish it off with one more hit. However Weavile disappeared from its line of sight just before the two made contact. The Machamp landed and looked around for Weavile and then it just stopped in its tracks and looked over its shoulder. The Weavile appeared behind the Machamp with its back towards the opposing Pokémon and arms crossed. The smirk was back on its face. The Machamp's pupils disappeared. Weavile lightly tapped the Machamp with its elbow and that was it. The Machamp fell over, knocked out.

"Remarkable! You didn't even give Weavile a full command and it still knew exactly what to do! Weavile was actually using Ariel Ace when it was diving at Machamp, the Night Slash was just a ploy to make us let our guard down, simply amazing. It has never shown this kind of power or skill when anyone else tried to use it. You truly are an amazing trainer Damian."The professor laughed and withdrew Machamp putting the Pokéball back in his pocket. The 'second space' began to glow and then there was another flash of light. They had returned to the arena or 'original space'. The others were still in the second space taking their exam, only one other participant had finished, and at the exact same time as Damian. It was Maria and proud looking Blaziken standing beside her. The Blaziken let loose a flamethrower towards the roof in its joy of winning. The proctor that had opposed Maria looked very concerned for a minute. Maria withdrew the Blaziken and threw the ball to the proctor then walked out of the arena. As she passed by Damian she had this sly smile on her face. Damian walked out as well and was accompanied by Professor Reverend to the waiting room. Maria however was nowhere to be seen.

"_Where'd that girl go? And…what was with that smile on her face? Her proctor looked kinda shocked there for a second too…Maybe I'm just imagining things."_Damian looked up at the ceiling, he was lost in thought. "And what about _Weavile…he knew exactly what I was going to tell him to do before I even said it, how is that possible? Professor Reverend noticed it as well, so that definitely wasn't just my imagination. This happened once before too…way back when…during my first battle with Eon."_

Damian began remembering his first battle. It wasn't really a battle, he and his Eevee, Eon, were playing with a ball. It had flown up a bit too high and landed in a Pidgeotto nest. Damian climbed up to go get it, but when he made it to the nest, the ball had the same pattern as the eggs. He picked up the eggs one by one till he found the ball which had a different shape and then he jumped down from the tree. The mother Pidgeotto had seen Damian taking the ball, which it mistook for one of her eggs, and dove at Damian to get it away from him. Damian ran with his Eevee at his side and the ball in his hand. They eventually were backed into a corner, the only way out was to fight but Damian couldn't even talk, he was so afraid, especially since he was only six years old. He knew only one move Eevee could use, Quick Attack, however he'd actually have say it. He tried to talk but his voice just wouldn't come out. "_Eon, quick attack, Eon…please use quick attack…Eon!"_

As the Pidgeotto came down at him one final time with its wings spread out and its beak glowing, Damian began to lose consciousness. However as he passed out his Eevee, Eon, had begun to run towards the Pidgeotto giving off a trail of white light while doing so. It was using quick attack. That was the last thing Damian could remember about that day. "That was a pretty crazy day, huh Eon?"Damian smiled as he looked at the 'Cherish Ball' Eon was in. He then leaned back against the wall and put the Pokéball back in his pocket and soon nodded off.


	3. Facility Infiltration: Damian vs Thief

Damian had dozed off while waiting for the results of the battle examination to come in. He was sleeping peacefully, that is until the alarm went off. The entire room began flashing red and Damian nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Ack!"Damian yelped as he fell forward, hitting face first onto the ground. "Ugh, what's going on?"

"**EMERGENCY ALERT! EMERGENCY ALERT! FACILITY HAS BEEN LOCKED DOWN! REPEAT: FACILITY HAS BEEN LOCKED DOWN!**"

"Say what?"Damian rushed for the door and tried to open it but to no avail. It was sealed tight, even Pokémon attacks wouldn't be able to get through, except maybe a hyper beam but the only Pokémon he had with him at the moment was his Eevee, Eon. Eevee were not developed enough as Pokémon to be able to unleash such powerful attacks. The brute force option was gone, leaving Damian to try and figure out another way out of this prison like room. "The door is locked…there aren't any large enough windows to get to the outside from….or is there?"

Damian smiled ever so slightly and looked upwards towards the ceiling. The smile turned into a large grin. "_Air vent at twelve o'clock. Who knew watching so many spy movies would pay off, ha ha ha. Now, how to get up there…hmm…_"Damian thought as he closed his eyes to think. He then looked around the room and noticed there were a lot of chairs. "Maybe those can be of some use…not perfect, but I think they can serve as a make shift ladder"

He began to pick up and stack the chairs, they were actually a lot heavier than they looked. "Ugh…this is such a pain…"Damian groaned, his body wasn't exactly built for heavy lifting for one thing and having to lift and stack so many chairs was just painful. It took a few minutes but Damian managed to stack the last chair, it was high enough for him to be able to climb up onto without knocking the whole thing over. Unfortunately the stack didn't reach high enough and wasn't steady.

"I've gotta do something about the grate first…hmmm. Alright, Eon it looks like I'm going to need your help buddy."Damian reached into his pocket and pulled out the pure red Pokéball. He threw it up into the air and from it burst forth an Eevee. Its fur was a silver-grey and the 'scarf' like fur around it's neck, as well as the tip of its tail was pure white. This fox-dog Pokémon had the most adorable black button like eyes and they shined brightly with happiness as it looked towards its trainer with a smile. The Eevee was Eon. Damian knelt down to pet the Eevee's head. "Hey there buddy, I need your help with something. You know that move we practiced a few days ago? I know ya don't know how to control it yet but could you try and fire it up there?"

Damian lifted his arm and pointed towards the air vent grate "Please?" The little Eevee jumped left and right wagging its tail. It had a wide grin on its face and it looked up. Just as soon as it did, a blob of darkness began forming in front of its open mouth. The blob slowly accumulated more and more energy until at last it took a spherical shape. 'Shadow Ball' is what the move was referred to as. The ball of dark energy flew towards the grate caused the grate to break and hit the top of the vent then fall through. It landed on the chairs and much to Damian's dismay, it toppled the make shift ladder he had created.

"Ah you've got to be kidding me!"Damian said as he slapped his forehead. He sighed and then smiled. The little Eevee laid down on its stomach then curled up into a ball. Damian restacked the chairs, he was even more tired than he was a few minutes ago but for some odd reason he could feel more energy coming into him. "_Huh…even after all that lifting, why don't I feel like I'm about to drop to the ground from exhaustion?_"He thought. He returned Eon to its Cherish Ball and then jumped for the air vent. He pulled himself in only to realize it was utterly freezing inside. "Tch, of all the luck, I'll probably freeze to death before I figure out what's going on."

As he crawled through the ventilation system aimlessly, Damian wondered what had caused the lockdown. This place was not only a stadium but it was also a research facility and a very advanced at that. As he passed each vent Damian stopped to look in and see if it was a way out. Eventually he got to a fork in the vent system. He took a minute to pick but decided to turn left. There was a faint purple glow from deeper in the vent. Damian continued to crawl, though he sped his pace up, the vent was cramped and he would rather get out as soon as possible. Looking in through the gaps in the grate, Damian saw the source of the light, it was coming from the room in which the battle data was held. There were several people in white lab coats lying on the floor, they didn't seem to have been hurt but were out cold. "_They're knocked out… but who did it? Guess I have to find out…_"

Damian lifted open the grate carefully so he wouldn't drop it, he figured it didn't have to be careful not to make any noise due to the alarms still going off.

"Che…seems we have a rat in the vent…Hydropump"

"Hu-"Damian didn't even have the time to flinch before he was sent flying into the top of the vent with tremendous force by a blast of water. He fell through the vent and hitting the floor hard. "You poor, pathetic fool… did you really think you could sneak up on me?"There was a girl standing in the room. Her hair in a ponytail with and a Wartortle stood by her side facing towards Damian, it had just used Hydropump on him.

"_That voice…it's…so familiar…wait a second. I know whose voice is that…MARIA!"_Damian thought. He struggled to get up, his bone creaked with each movement. The blast of water had done quite the number on him. After about half a second, he had fully recovered, he got up onto his feet. Again, Damian felt odd. "_What the hell is going on? Not even a minute has passed since I was in searing pain and now I'm absolutely fine?"_

"Huh! How are you able to stand? Even if it was only from my Wartortle, you should not be able to move let alone get up!"Maria yelled, she was shocked, but just then a smile appeared on her face as though she had realized something. "Ha ha ha…I see…so you're one of them"

"Maria, what the hell are you doing?"Damian said furiously, the pain had subsided, now he was just mad "And what do you mean 'one of them'?"

"Ha ha ha… you're a complete fool, just as I said. I'm not going to answer anything you ask, why would I? Ha hah hah!"Maria cackled, there was just something off about her. "Now, nighty night, whelp! Wartortle, HYDROPUMP ONCE MORE! "

"_Tch…not again, I can't block something that strong with just my arms, there's not enough time to have Eon block it…shit" _Damian thought, he closed his eyes tight and put up his arms to shield his upper body and face awaiting the blast of water to hit. A few seconds past and there was a loud shattering sound. Damian was somehow fine, he move his arms back to his sides. The hydro pump had been frozen by something before it made contact with Damian and it crashed to the floor, shattering instantaneously. A shadow like figure jumped down from the vent. "W-Weavile? Damn buddy, I've never been so happy to see you in my life!"

The Weavile had a smirk on its face as it was getting into a defensive stance. It was ready to protect Damian at all costs. "Heh, thanks buddy. I would have been drowned and smashed if you hadn't gotten here when you did. Alright, let's do this."

"Huh, so you were saved by your exam Pokémon? Heh…it doesn't matter, you're still going down all the same! Wartortle, send them both through the wall, Hydropump!"

"Too slow…put this to rest…Weavile!"Damian said, just like before, his eyes had been covered by a shadow, there was a glint in his eyes just before the shadows hid them. His face was now expressionless. Weavile simply sidestepped the water blast and fired a barrage of ice shards. The Wartortle withdrew into its shell to avoid the spray of ice crystals headed its way. Weavile however was prepared for this as its right hand began to shake violently with power, it jumped into the air. It flipped in midair and its feet connected with the ceiling. Using this to boost its momentum, Weavile sprang off the ceiling, flying towards Wartortle with its arm raised, there was a faint glow coming from it.

"Shit, it's going to use Brick Break, and with its increased speed and the angle it's coming from, the shell won't be able to handle it….WARTORTLE, Hydropump and Rapid Spin!"Maria commanded. The Wartortle's shell began to spin, getting faster and faster by the second and then about half-way to maximum speed, water erupted from all five holes in the shell. The blasts of water weren't as strong but this combo was definitely an effective one if it worked. Unfortunately for the Wartortle however, Weavile wasn't using brick break, it was using Ice Shard, only a much more intensely charged blast. It let lose the massive barrage of ice from its palm. "_WHAT? But that position it was in…how did this Weavile even know to do something like that? It's as if it already knew I would use the combo and how to counter it!_"

"I told you…you're too slow Maria…"Damian said, a slight smile came across his face. The Ice Shard had frozen all the way to the inside of Wartortle's shell and blocked the holes for its head, arms and legs. It was essentially a sitting duck. "Brick Break…"

Weavile slammed down its arm onto Wartortle, shattering the shell and knocking the Pokémon out from sheer pain. "You're not just a freak, you're some kind of monster! No surprise…you are _that_ guys brother"

"What'd you say! You know my older brother?"Damian roared, something was different about him now. When he battles, Damian takes on what can be a split personality, a purely instinctive personality no longer being care free. "Wait…how could you- WEAVILE USE ICE SHARD ON HER!"

The Weavile looked surprised for a moment but then did as it was instructed. It fired a barrage of ice crystals at Maria. "Wha- what the heck are you thinking you whelp!"Maria said. As the ice shards pierced into her she let out a scream. As the scream ended, there was a quiet, sick sounding laughter. It grew louder, into a cackle. "Heh heh heh…so you figured it out eh?" Maria looked up towards Damian. Her face, no, her entire body began to peel and slide off. As her skin fell to the floor, it turned into a purple gloppy, slush like substance. Where the 'skin' fell, a new face was revealed. It was a girl, approximately thirteen in age. She had tanned skin and these shimmering icy blue eyes. More of her 'body' began to fall off, more rapidly than before as well until it was just a big purple blob on the floor. With it all gone her long and flowing ocean blue hair was revealed along with her clothes. She was wearing a purple distorted looking outfit, it was like looking into very center of a vortex. The top was a mini jacket with a gray shirt underneath. Her pants were a darker, closer to black, shade of purple, slightly ripped towards the foot holes. The purple blob by her feet began to move. The separate globs came together and merged. It was a Ditto.

"Tch… I knew you were an imposter the moment you mentioned my brother… what I didn't know was how you were doing it, though I figured the most efficient way you could've done it was to have a Ditto use it's transform into a 'Maria' suit."Damian said with a scowl. If this girl was posing as Maria then where was the real Maria? "WHERE IS SHE?"

"Heh…wouldn't you like to know cutie. Too bad, I'm not telling you."The girl giggled. It was not cute. It was actually more of infuriating than anything. She returned the Wartortle and Ditto to their Pokéballs. "Besides, if you haven't figured that out then I guess I gave you more credit than you deserve…heh"

Damian took a step forward and as he did, the door to the room opened and one of the proctors stepped forward into the room. Despite there being several of his colleagues lying unconscious on the floor, there was no reaction. "You're a fake too aren't you?"Damian asked the man, but he got no response only silence.

"Heh heh heh…Good, you're catching on quick. Ditto, go!"The proctor's body began to instantly de-solidify, the appearance being warped and the skin turning purple. It was another Ditto! It jumped off the body it was attached to and onto to Damian before Weavile could freeze it with another Ice Shard, slamming him into the wall and restricting his upper body movement. As the Ditto impacted with Damian, the pure red Pokéball fell out his pocket and onto the ground in front of him. Damian looked over towards the person who had gotten their body taken over by this Ditto. It was just as he suspected, the victim was none other than Maria. However she was out cold, how else would it have been possible for Ditto to completely overpower her?

"I knew it…tch…."Damian said he then looked over towards Weavile."Weavile, Ice Shard!" He said and the Weavile began forming the blue energy its palms. However the mysterious girl simply smirked.

"Weavile, make one false move and the cutie over there will get crushed by Ditto."She said with a sickeningly sweet smile. Weavile grunted and let the blue energy dissipate putting its arms down. "Good. Heh, this Weavile seems to be quite attached to you…too bad". The girl turned away from Damian and began to walk to the far end of the room. There was a large door, it was the room in which ever trainer's battle data was stored on the main computer; access to the room was restricted to only two or three of the professors, one of them being Professor Acacia. The girl shook her head as though she was disappointed. "Come on out again Ditto…ha, these idiots, why install personal security when a Ditto can just as easily replicate the person". The girl threw the Pokéball of the other Ditto into the air and the blob like Pokémon came out of it, immediately attaching to and covering her entire body. The purple goop began to shift and soon it took the shape of Professor Acacia, Damian's mom.

"You little-"Damian shouted as the Ditto that was holding him to the wall covered his mouth. "_Shit, now I can't even give commands to Weavile, he won't move or risk getting me crushed by the Ditto. Not to mention the situation at hand isn't looking any better. Who knows what's behind that door. Either way, someone like her can't get her hands on it. How the heck am I supposed to stop her though? The only things I can move arm my legs."_

Damian glanced down and saw the cherish ball by his feet. "_THAT'S PERFECT! Heh…maybe my luck ISN'T so bad! Hope I don't damage the ball though…here goes nothing….and everything!"_Damian pulled back his leg and kicked the Cherish Ball sending it rocketing towards the girl. She had heard the sound of the ball being kicked but didn't turn around till was too late, the ball hit her dead center on the forehead, the ditto was already weakened so It wasn't able to protect its trainer from the blow as well as it could have and then fell off. However she had already gotten the door to open so it did not matter one bit if ditto was knocked out. As long as Damian was restricted and Weavile wouldn't move as well as Maria being out cold, the situation seemed completely hopeless.

"So this is the super computer? Huh, I was expecting it to be more…super." The girl said with a shrug. The computer was gigantic with multiple screens and hundreds of buttons on the keyboard. She pulled out a device from inside of the mini-jacket she was wearing and plugged it into the USB port. A command prompt opened up and hundreds of data lines began to appear on screen and profiles of trainers who had taken the exam appeared on the screen. One by one, battle and examination data on each of the trainers also popped up on the screen. Damian's profile popped up showing his numerous failures of the trainer exam. "So, your name is Damian Acacia huh? Wow…you're a complete dumbass. That's pretty unexpected since…you battle like a monster…Acacia…that name seems really familiar"

This girl was taking all the data from the computer and copying it to this device which seemed to be transmitting it to somewhere else entirely. Eventually a profile opened up, battle examination data on one 'Giro Acacia' appeared. "Hm…interesting…heh heh…hey cutie, wanna know what your big brother has accomplished since he became a Pokémon Trainer?"

"_Ugh this girl is pissing me off, it's not like I can actually respond to her question with this Ditto covering my mouth…"_Damian though as he attempted to nod. The girl turned around to reveal the grin on her face.

"He's the Elite Four Champion! Ha ha ha… No surprise, he was more of a monster than you are once they made that Eevee of his even stronger. It was an odd one to begin with since it wouldn't evolve even when exposed to an evolution stone…heh, guess I know who I'm looking for now, retrieving Project Eon should be a cinch now!"

"_What is she talking about? Project E- wait, did she say 'Eon'? Big brother gave him to me a few years before he disappeared and he seemed strange….like he wasn't himself…it's probably Eon she's talking about but I can't let her know I have it, who knows why she wants him!"_Damian thought as he struggled to get free. This was when the girl picked up the Cherish Ball Damian had kicked at her.

"This ball is pretty rare, I haven't seen many of them, even fewer than I have the Master Ball. Though tell me, are you planning on catching something with this? It won't even be as effective as a normal Pokéball."She said throwing the empty Pokéball at Damian, hitting him right in the forehead like he had done to her. Damian looked at the Pokéball after groaning in pain, it really was empty! That means Eon must have gotten out sometime after the girl had gotten hit by it. "Well, my job here is done, see you again some other time, cutie". The girl had the Ditto restraining Damian return to its Pokéball along with the one that had fainted and then threw a small black pellet like object onto the ground and thick smoke engulfed the room. The girl used the smoke as a cover and escaped through the very vent Damian had entered from.

"Weavile, get Maria out of here, I have to find Eon!"Damian said. Weavile picked up the unconscious Maria and left the room, heading for the exit. Damian meanwhile began searching for his Eevee. The room was pretty big with a lot of boxes containing Pokéballs with starter Pokémon for new Trainers. "Eoooon, come on out buddy, we need to get out of here before we suffocate."Damian coughed, the smoke was really thick and it was causing his eyes to water so he had to keep them closed as he searched. He could hear a purr like sound coming from one of the crates. He opened his eyes just enough to get a little visual of his surrounding, the smoke wasn't as thick anymore since most of it flowed out through the vent and the door. Damian could hear the purring get louder as he continued down going forward. Eventually he saw a silhouette in the smoke, and the purring sound was definitely coming from it. He reached for it and lifted it up and pulled it towards himself. It was Eon alright, sleeping like a baby despite being surrounded by smoke. Oddly enough it wasn't even affected by the smoke. Damian put Eon back into his Cherish Ball and then ran out of the room. The alarms had stopped and the lights had ceased flashing, the lockdown was over. Just outside of the door, Weavile had returned for Damian after having gotten Maria outside of the building.

"Weavile, is everyone alright? Did you get Maria to the exit?"Damian asked as he followed Weavile to the exit. It nodded in response to Damian's question, since it had lived here almost its entire life it knew the layout of the building very well. After several minutes of top speed dashing, the two made it to the front of the building. Everyone who was in the building had made it outside. The police force had been called in as the alarm rang and the building had been surrounded. Damian was thrown aback by the number of cops that had shown up to the scene when he made it outside, there were literally a hundred of them.

"Damian, dude why are you soaked? You look you were hit by a waterfall!"Jack chuckled patting Damian on the back.

"Tch, no, I got hit with something much worse, a Hydropump."Damian said with a groan. "How's Maria? Is she okay?"

"Oh you mean little Ms. Rage? She's still out cold, she looks fine but they're saying she was hit with sleep powder so she'll be snoozing for a bit longer. What about you? You said you got hit with a Hydropump? How?"Jack asked curiously.

"I was in the air vents and when I got to the grate of this one room with a ton of crates with Pokéballs in them, I was blasted by a Wartortle's Hydropump. The trainer was some blue haired girl with two Ditto helping her. I think she jacked some information from the computer in that room, information on trainers."Damian said with a sigh. "_She somehow knew my brother…heh…imagine that, my big brother, the Elite Four Champion_."

"Wait, you were really hit with a Hydropump? In a vent no less? Dude, how are you even able to move after that?"Jack said, his jaw had dropped upon hearing Damian's story.

"Excuse me but did you say a 'blue haired girl with two Ditto'? Was there anything else peculiar about her?"An officer came up to Damian. He seemed very interested in this mysterious thief.

"She was wearing some weird purple clothing…that's about all that stuck out other than her hair and eyes…"Damian said tilting his head to the side.

"There's no mistaking it, this is the work of the 'Thief of a Million Faces', Krystal Blitz. _Though it's odd, I could've sworn she had three Ditto…"_The officer said, his voice faded into a whisper as he walked away from the two boys. "Thank you for the information"

"Yea, uh…no problem?"Damian looked at the officer in confusion. "Krystal Blitz huh? Weird name but If I ever see that bi-"

"Heh heh, calm down there pal, let's just take it easy while they finish up investigating."Jack suggested. Damian sighed in frustration but then nodded in agreement. He closed his eyes and began to think.

"_Project Eon…Giro Acacia…Elite four Champion….Krystal Blitz…Battle Data…_"These words echoed in Damian's mind. "_What's the connection? What'd that girl do to Eon? Is this Eon even the same one they mentioned? Ugh…too many thoughts. Why am I worried about this anyway?"_

Time had passed by quickly as Damian was lost in thought, the police had finished their investigation and left. Jack waved his hand in front of Damian's face. "Damian, dude, they finished the investigation, we're getting the exam results back"

"Huh? Whoa, how long was I zoned out for…? _Jeez I seriously gotta start paying closer attention to the time when I'm thinking._"Damian muttered, he followed his friend Jack back into the stadium, they entered the arena once more. A large hole opened on the ceiling this time and a screen came down through it. On the screen the results of the battle examination were displayed.

"Woo! I passed the battle exam…and my starter is…Cubone? Sweet!"Jack laughed, he was content with whatever he got and was just happy he passed. Damian looked up and saw his results. They were perfect in every category. His starter? Mudkip. "Whoa dude, you literally ace this test and an epic starter to top it off!"

Damian and Jack were escorted to the Pokémon lab in the stadium. This is where the Pokédex and the starter Pokémon is given to the ones who pass the examination. They are then on registered as trainers. In the lab Professors Acacia and Reverend were awaiting the young boys.

"Damian honey, I'm very proud of you!"Professor Acacia said with a smile, she has a blue Pokédex and a Pokéball with his starter Pokémon in her hand. She opened the Pokédex and held it up to Damian's face. The Pokédex let off a faint light and then a message appeared on its screen.

**Registration Complete**.

Name: Damian Acacia

Age: Thirtheen

Birthday: July Twenty-Eighth

Blood Type: O

Damian took the Pokédex and the Pokéball containing his starter Pokémon, a relaxed Mudkip. It was time for his journey to begin. Weavile entered the room as well, only it did so by force.

"Hm? Weavile?"Damian turned around and saw the Pokémon standing there with its arms crossed.

"I think it wants to go with you dude. Whacha gonna do?"Jack asked Damian with a sheepish grin on his face. Damian looked over to his mom.

"I'm afraid you can't take Weavile with you…yet anyway."Professor Acacia stated calmly.

"Yet? What do you mean 'yet'?"Damian asked tilting his head slightly to the left and crossing his arms.

"Come back once you have at least three badges, then Weavile can go with you!"Professor Acacia laughed. She knew giving Weavile to Damian right now would take the fun out of his adventure, especially since it was level fourty. She also knew that Weavile had really connected with her son so keeping it from him would be unfair to the Pokémon. "Do we have a deal honey?"

"Heh, three or more badges? Fine by me. Don't worry Weavile, I'll come back for you soon."Damian said walking over the Pokémon and putting his hand on its shoulder. The Weavile nodded and smirked, it had faith in Damian's capability and knew he would come back. "Alright mom, I'll be back soon, so take good care of Weavile while I'm gone". Damian walked out of the room after saying goodbye. Weavile leaned against the wall and close its eyes, a smile on its face.

"Dude, wait for me!"Jack yelled and took his Pokéball and Pokédex off the table, he opened it and it scanned him as well. Once it was done Jack ran after Damian. Their adventures through the Proto region is just beginning but Damian already knew what he was going to do. He was going to collect all 8 badges and take the league challenge. Thus his journey through the Proto Region truly begins.


	4. Prodigy vs Slacker: Fight Spirit Awakens

Damian and Jack had left the arena to start their journey. With their Pokédex and Pokémon with them, the two were excited about the journey. "So Jack, what're your plans?"Damian asked, Jack was known to be a bit of a wild card, he was laid back and usually just went with the flow and did what he felt was right.

"To be honest man, I unno yet, I'm thinkin of trying out the Gym Battles, but unlike you I don't think I'm ready for it yet, so I'll probably train with Cubone and Staravia for a bit. We'll go with ya till the next town, but I think we'll be going our separate ways from there man."Jack shrugged and yawned, he was actually thinking about the journey ahead which took Damian by surprise.

"Hmm, wanna stock up on some Pokéballs before we head out?"Damian asked and just as he did, Jack took out the Pokédex. After a few minutes of toying with it a hologram of a Pokéball projected from the screen. It then solidified in seconds and Jack was then able grab it. It was now a real Pokéball. "Whoa! How the-?"

"It's the magic of digitization. Apparently the Pokédex Is like a portable pc, you can access a storage component. This thing is capable of digitizing things like Pokéballs, berries and other items. It then stores them in its memory. When you need a specific item, you can access the stored data and have it de-digitize it and turn it back into an actual object. I don't really understand what makes this possible but what I do know is it's really useful. The Prof. gave us each ten Pokéballs so we could start catching Pokémon right away."Jack explained, he sounded fairly knowledgeable on the subject.

"How do you know all this?"Damian asked dumbfounded, Jack knew more about it than him, it wasn't that Jack was stupid it's just he was so laid back and carefree, this was very odd of him.

"The Prof. told me, when I left the room, she called me back in and explained the Pokédex, you had already left, so she told me to tell you about it too."Jack said in response. "Anyway, The storage system is just so you can carry excess items without weighing yourself down, she said you keep at least one or two Pokéballs within reach at all time, ya never know when a wild Pokémon is gonna jump out atcha"

"That is true…I guess."Damian withdrew five Pokéballs from the Pokédex's storage. "Oh yea, so what would happen If we have more than six Pokémon?"

"The Pokédex will automatically transport the Pokémon to the Prof. to take care of since a trainer is only allowed to carry six Pokémon at any given time."Jack explained. "You can also check the stats and moves your Pokémon knows as well as its nature, likes and even where you met it, when and how. The Pokédex is an essential part of a trainer's journey. There's even a mini GPS in it so you can find out your location as well as Phone and Radio. Apparently the new Pokédex designs were created by Omnicore Inc. and- "

"Alright, let's head for nearest town with a gym!"Damian shouted cutting Jack off mid sentence. He pumped a fist in the air.

"That would be Raslex Town across the west bridge. We'll probably get there quickly by taking a bus."Jack commented.

"Alright then, let's go!"Damian yelled as he ran for the nearest bus stop. Jack ran after him.

"_Same old Damian, impatient as always_…HEY MAN WAIT UP!"Jack yelled but Damian didn't even look back until he made it to the bus stop. A bus had already arrived and Damian held it up so Jack could get on. Public transportation was free for Pokémon trainers if they showed their Identification, which of course were registered in their Pokédex. The two sat near the back, Damian put his hand behind his head and closed his eyes.

"Hey Jack, wake me up when we get there alright?"Damian said with a yawn, he closed his eyes, leaned his head against the window and then fell asleep. He had been feeling very tired recently and oddly enough so had his Eevee, Eon.

"Aw come on dude, I was gonna say that!"Jack groaned. "Alright fine, enjoy your nap"

The bus had begun crossing the bridge within ten minutes, it was a fairly quick ride. That was until the bus had made it halfway across the bridge, it was now stuck in a traffic jam. Cars had literally surrounded the bus and all of the drivers were irritably honking their horns. All the noise and the lack of movement by the bus woke Damian up. "Jack, I thought you said this would be fast, what the heck is going on?"Damian asked keeping his eyes shut tightly.

"We're uh…heh heh…kinda stuck in a massive traffic jam."Jack said laughing nervously. He already predicted Damian's reaction and what he was going to say.

"Alright, screw this. I don't have all day. Jack, do you have Abra with you? Just have it teleport us to the other side of the bridge"

"Ha ha, I knew you were gonna say that."Jack chuckled, he reached for his Pokéball containing Abra and tossed it up. It put its hand on Damian and Jack's shoulders and in a flash they were gone. They appeared outside of a cave on the other side of a bridge. This was the Nesturnal Cave, home to many Zubat, a rather dangerous path, but it was also the quickest to Raslex town.

"Looks like we don't have much of a choice now, It's either go through the cave or waste time in traffic. Unless, has Abra ever even been past this cave?"Damian asked.

"Nah, the farthest we came was to this end of the bridge, that's when I caught Staravia. We turned back though 'cause it was getting late."Jack shrugged, a frown on his face. Abra couldn't go places with Teleport that it had never seen so they didn't have any choice but to traverse the cave, especially since Damian couldn't stand traffic. Damian took off his bag and opened it. He reached in and began searching for something, he was carrying spare clothes and some food. However he also brought with him something he'd really need for cave/night exploration, a flash light. Though this thing was more like a flood light with amount of light it produced. Damian put his bag back on and the two entered the cave. Just as Damian had thought it was fairly dark inside the cave and visibility was fairly low without the flash light. This was no surprise seeing as it was home to Zubat. They kept walking forward, screeches of the bat Pokémon could be heard all around. If so much as a drop of water dripped into a puddle, it would echo throughout the cave.

"You couldn't have just let us stay on the bus could ya Damian."Jack groaned. The place was freaking him out. He had achluophobia, fear of darkness. If you factor in the unwanted noise and constant dripping of water echoing through the cave, this place was like a nightmare for Jack.

"Heh, come on you big chicken, keep moving. We'll never get out of the cave if you keep walking so slow. I'll even give you the flashlight if you just walk a little faster!"Damian said jokingly as he handed Jack the flashlight.

"Come on man, cut me some slack here, I can't help it!"Jack whined, his fear of darkness was simply there since he was little, even he didn't remember how it started. The two boys came to a fork in the cave, there were two paths, one on the left and one on the right.

"Hmm…which wa-a-a-a-ay?"Damian was cut off by a rather large tremor, the cave had begun to rumble and the Zubat hanging from the ceiling of the cave went through the left tunnel, flying over Damian's head. Damian was about to go over to the right when a boulder came crashing down, splitting them from each other and blocking the only way back. "Jack! You okay?"

"Yea, I'm fine, I still have the flashlight!"Jack yelled. There was yet another tremor and more of the cave started to fall, the two boys rushed down the path they were in front of, Damian took left and Jack took right. The way back was blocked for both of them now. On Damian's side of the cave, it was very dark and getting darker with every few steps he took. Eventually the path he was taking widened and the cave brightened up just a bit. Damian was in a cavern with a rather large lake and there wasn't any path around it.

"Hm…I wonder…"Damian smiled as he took out his Pokédex. He took a look at the data on Mudkip, mainly to check its moves. "Perfect, Mudkip, come on out."Damian threw the Pokéball for the Mudkip and the blue Mud Fish Pokémon came out of it. It had a very plain expression on its face. It was standing there waiting for a command and Damian had just one in mind for it. "Mudkip…hm, I should probably give you a nickname… how about Doro?"

The Mudkip tilted its head and gave a mini shrug as though it didn't really care. A drop of sweat went down the back of Damian's head. "Well uh, think you could freeze a bridge to the other side using Ice Beam?"Damian asked hesitantly, Doro nodded and complied with his request, opening its mouth. A ball of light blue energy formed in front of it and fired as a semi-scattershot beam towards the lake. However, it didn't freeze a bridge across. Instead it froze the entire top layer of the lake at the very least. The water in the Lake was still flowing as normal, it seemed Mudkip only froze the top layer of the water and not the whole thing. It looked smug about having produced enough power to do so. "Holy crap…you're a tough little guy aren't you Doro?"Damian said with a smile as the two began crossing the ice covered lake. The Mudkip laid down on its belly, it then let out a strong Water Gun which upon impact with the wall sent it sliding towards the other side very quickly. Damian looked at the blue Pokémon in surprise, it was pretty smart if It knew that it could use Water Gun to push itself across the Ice like that. Damian slid across the ice as though he was skating on it but Doro had made it across already and was waiting by the next tunnel. The fin on its head began to shake a bit, its blank stare quickly changed to serious look, it sensed something approaching and it let out a cry to warn Damian of approaching danger. Damian saw the look on its face and instinctively turned around. There they were, diving at him at high speeds, a swarm of twenty-one Zubat. They were being led by one that was astonishingly large in size, far above the average size of Zubat. The size of this particular Zubat was comparable to that of a Pidgeotto. Damian dove to avoid their attack and Doro rushed towards him.

"Tch, Zubat huh? Guess they're out for dinner, but I'm not about to get the blood sucked outta me…Doro use Ice Beam!"Damian said. The Zubat swarm swooped upwards and turned back towards Damian diving at him. Doro made it to Damian and fired another Ice Beam, this time it moved its head from left to right so the beam would hit the entire swarm instead of just one or two. Almost all of the Zubat were hit and frozen solid, falling to the floor like flies. They weren't able to see except by echolocation and by the time they 'saw' it coming, it was too late to get out of the way. Only one remained untouched and unfrozen, it was the large Zubat, the leader of the swarm. It dove at Doro and high speed. "Doro, use Ice Beam one more time!"

Doro began charging energy for the Ice beam and as he did, the Zubat spread its wings back. The Mudkip fired the beam at the Zubat, it was much larger than the previous attacks it had fired. The Zubat flapped its wings forward and let loose a wave of flames, it was somehow using 'Heat Wave'. It collided with the Ice Beam diminishing the attack and continuing on towards Doro. Despite being a water Pokémon, Doro was damaged by the attack, this Zubat was clearly of much level than the Mudkip. Damian reached for his Pokéball and as he did the Zubat used Supersonic. Damian covered his ears and attempted to get Eon to help out but it was no use, the Pokéball wouldn't open. Zubat's Supersonic was strong enough that it jammed the Pokéballs, so not only couldn't Damian bring out his Eevee, he couldn't get Doro back into its Pokéball and to top it all off. Doro struggled to get back up, It was a very proud Pokémon and it wasn't about to go down from a fire attack and especially not from this oversized bat. It fired another Ice Beam at the Zubat before it could use heat wave again. One of the Zubat's wings was frozen by the attack and it fell to the floor. Damian through a Pokéball at the Zubat before it could make another move. The ball shook once, then twice, and then a third time and then burst open. The Pokémon came back out of the ball but it wasn't the same. It had evolved into an even larger Pokémon, a Golbat. Damian gulped, the Zubat that had weakened Doro and left the Pokéball with Eon in it unable to open, had gotten stronger. It had even gotten larger, matching the size of a Aerodactyl. What made matters even worse was that its wing was unfrozen and it could fly again. The Golbat flew at Damian. Damian checked had checked Pokédex as soon as he saw Golbat emerge from the Pokéball. It said that Golbat can drink 10 ounces of blood at once and if it drinks too much it gets too heavy to fly. Damian had an idea, as the Golbat swooped down Damian had Doro use Water Gun and aim for the Golbat's mouth. Not only did the bat Pokémon get blown back into a wall by the sheer force, but it was starting to get engorged with water.

"Doro, just keep it up a bit longer, If It drinks too much it won't be able to move as fast as before or maybe even at all."Damian said as he took out another Pokéball. The Mudkip was running out of energy for Water Gun much more quickly than it would have if it had used it in multiple blasts rather than one continuous one. The Golbat was swelling up with Water and was about to faint when Doro ran out of power. The Golbat attempted to fly however it was too engorged with water. It wrapped its wings around itself as it would have if it was sleeping. Damian threw yet another Pokéball at the Golbat, once more the ball shook three times. It remained still afterward but then suddenly the bat Pokémon once more burst out, using Heat Wave again. The attack came from its mouth as well as its wings and steam could be seen wafting off the Golbat. The attack had caused the water within the Pokémon to evaporate. Doro used Ice Beam to counter the Heat Wave but once more was badly injured and this time blown away by attack. However, the Ice Beam it fired managed to graze the Golbat's left wing. Doro was now knocked out, it had sustained a lot of damage before and after getting hit with a Heat Wave from the Golbat, the little Pokémon could not stay conscious. Damian was now defenseless and vulnerable to attack. The Golbat turn away and used Heat Wave again, this time to defrost the Zubat that had been frozen earlier. It apparently told them stay back and 'watch' its new power in action. The Golbat dove at the fainted Mudkip baring its fangs. It was going to use Leech Life on the little Mud Fish. "_Wait, It's going use Leech Life…but Doro has already fainted…maybe It's more damaged than it looks. Tch, what the hell am I doing just standing here thinking about this! If I don't do something quick Doro won't get to see tomorrow!"_

"Doro!"Damian yelled as the Golbat closed in on Mudkip, It was moving slower than it originally was and it's left wing seemed to be acting up. Damian rushed towards his fainted Pokémon and as he stopped in front of it, the Golbat had reached its target. He let out a painful scream. Doro's eyes opened for a split second, It looked up and saw Damian, the Golbat had sunk it's fangs into his right shoulder, it then passed out again. Damian pulled out one more Pokéball, the pain from the Golbat's bite was intense yet he was still hell bent on beating. The Golbat was surprised by Damian's rash action and how he defended his Pokémon, Instead of draining his blood, the Golbat attempted to remove it fangs from his shoulder. Damian slammed the Pokéball into its left wing and the Pokémon once more went into the Pokéball. The ball dropped to the floor. It shook once, then twice and then one final time. The ball stopped shaking, the Golbat had been caught. Damian grinned. "You were a…pain in the neck…literally…but I caught you!"He said letting out one last prideful yell. He felt his vision blur, the pain from his wound was getting to him. The Zubat who had just heard their leader was captured dove at Damian and the Mudkip, all using Supersonic. Damian was in so much pain he couldn't even scream now, his vision blurred even more and he soon fell forward, losing consciousness before he even hit the floor. The Zubat flew towards Damian, they were also weakened since Doro had hit them with an Ice Beam, only three of them actually managed to fly again.

"JEEZ! I can't even get some peace and quiet down in a CAVE?"A voice yelled out. From the tunnel on the other side of the frozen lake, a figure emerged. Beside this person was a rarely seen Pokémon, a Smeargle. The Zubat's halted their flight toward Damian turned towards the new person on the scene. They flew at him as fast as they could. "Smeargle…Extreme Speed."The person, who was apparently also the trainer of the Smeargle, said. The Pokémon beside the person jumped forward, moving at incredibly high, almost god like speed. It slammed into the three Pokémon one by one striking each of them down in a single attack before any of them could counter. The Smeargle landed on the iced over lake and slipped, falling on its face. It got up and walked over to the now unconscious Damian and Doro. The trainer took a step forward and the slid on the ice similar to how Damian was doing before. "Ugh…so this kid is the reason for the noise? Well, it's not like we can just leave him here."

The trainer picked up Damian's Pokéball which he had caught the Golbat in as well as the injured Mudkip putting it on Damian's stomach, he then lifted Damian up. "Alright Smeargle, Teleport us back to the Pokémon Center."The trainer said and the Smeargle grabbed his hand and used Teleport bringing them both back to a Pokémon Center. The town they were in was the exact place Damian was heading before he passed out, Raslex Town. The trainer that had gotten Damian out of the cave had gotten the Pokéball for Doro and Eon repaired. He handed them, along with the newly caught Golbat's Pokéball to the Nurse at the Pokémon Center who placed each of them in the recovery machine. The three Pokéballs lit up when the machine was activated and began to glow. The machines were built to release a similar energy to the move 'Lunar Dance' used by the legendary Lunar Pokémon, Cresselia. The Pokémon had their health restored to full very quickly and the nurse gave the Pokéballs back to the trainer. Damian was put in a room as well. Nowadays Pokémon Centers were not just for Pokémon thanks to the recovery machine, but also a hospital for trainers. Several hours passed and finally Damian woke up with a jolt. The time was around seven pm, but since it was summer, the sun was still up though it was getting close to setting. Damian looked at the table beside his bed, his Pokédex, bag and the Pokéballs containing his Pokémon were all on there. He remembered what had happened back at the cave, Golbat had bitten into his shoulder and he used the opportunity to capture it though he ended up losing consciousness from sheer pain in the process.

"How…did I get here? Where the heck am I anyway?"Damian yelled getting out of bed. On his right shoulder and the pectoral area near it, his clothes had 4 holes in it from where Golbat had bitten him. Oddly enough though, there was not even so much as a scratch on him now. Damian picked up his stuff and exited the room. He headed down the hallway and through a door, he was in the main area of the Pokémon Center.

"Oh, you're Damian Acacia correct? Are you feeling better now?"The Nurse near the recovery machine said. "You were brought here by the Gym Leader of this town, Vent. Apparently you were bitten by a Golbat and were out cold when he found you."

"Yea I'm perfectly fine, tha- wait did you just say Gym Leader? Where is he?"Damian asked impatiently. He wanted to get his three badges and return home as quick as possible.

"Uhm, he's probably at the Gym by now, he left a few minutes ago after apparently 'catching some shuteye in the other room since the cave wasn't peaceful today' or at least that's what he said."The Nurse said with a bit of a confused look on her face, the Gym Leader was one hell of an odd ball. Damian rushed out of the hospital before the Nurse could even say another word. Little did Damian expect however, that the gym would be right in front of the Pokémon Center.

"Alright time to challenge the gy- wait! I forgot about Jack!"Damian said remembering how he and Jack had gotten separated just a bit before the Zubat had attacked him. Now that he was in town he could try and contact Jack. He remembered Jack mentioning the Pokédex all possessed a phone function. There was a number pad on the Pokédex, it usually used to search up Pokémon by their numerical order but if you switched it from encyclopedia to phone mode, it would work as a dial pad for the phone. The problem was now that Damian did not know what number to dial to contact Jack. "Well now…crap…There's no way of getting back so I won't be able to just go look for him…I hope he's okay…"Damian sighed and looked to floor. He then raised his head and barged into the Gym. There were two sets of stairs near the entrance and there was also a large battle field for the Pokémon challenges. There was also a machine similar to what Pokémon Stadium back in Metroplex City had, the 'Second Space' generator. "I'm here to challenge the Gym Leader of Raslex Town, Vent!"There was no response. "….Anybody home? I'm here to challenge the gym!"Damian yelled again and again, he received no response. "DAMN IT MAN! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE AND BATTLE ME!"

Suddenly there was a thumping sound coming from the right staircase, someone was coming down, it was the Gym Leader Vent Namakemono. He was nineteen years old, messy brown hair

"You're a noisy brat aren't you?"Vent stretched his arms and yawned, a sheepish look on his face, his eyes were closed as though he was sleepwalking but he was awake. He walked right past Damian towards the back of the gym where the machine was, all the while muttering complaints. "First my nap in the cave is interrupted by the Zubat's using Supersonic…then I had to save some passed out kid, I'm not getting any breaks today am I?"

"Hey, don't just freaking ignore me!"Damian growled, today hadn't gone very well for him so far. He had to stack chairs, crawl through an air vent, got blasted by a Hydropump, separated from his friend and bitten by a Golbat. This was seriously just not his day.

"Calm down. I'm just activating the second space…"Vent responded sleepily. He got to the machine and opened his eyes. He typed in a sequence of letters and number and the machine lit up. It produced a 'grassy plain' projection. 'Second Spaces' were special in the way that they were not only projections, no, they were the real deal, this grassy plain was real and even wider than the gym itself. The 'Second Space' is literally a temporary dimension created by the machine and the boundaries of the place they projected in, that dimension cease to apply. "Alright, let's get this over with. You can use as many Pokémon as you have, I'll be using the two I have…"Vent said as he laid down on his back, arms behind his head.

"Huh? Wait, So I can use all three of my Pokémon?"Damian scratched the back of his head then shrugged. "HEY! Don't lie down! This is a Pokémon battle not nap-"

"Go…Slakoth…"Vent lightly the Pokéball before Damian finished his sentence. The Pokémon, Slakoth, was also lying down and it looked as if it would fall asleep any minute. "Come on…send out your Pokémon…I wanna get to sleep after this is over"

"_Even his Pokémon is lazy? Jeez, how is this guy a gym leader?"_Damian smacked his forehead, irritated by this. "Whatever…alright Doro, you're up!"He tossed the Pokéball that had the Mudkip in it. It had been healed to full health at the Pokémon center. The blue Pokémon looked at Damian and smiled, turning back towards its opponent, it remembered how Damian was willing to risk his own neck to save it, literally. There was a sudden pulsation from Damian and Doro. Damain's eyes were once more shrouded by the same shadows they had been covered by in his battles with the proctor and the thief. Without having been given any commands, Doro used Ice beam. This caught Vent's attention.

"_Huh? What's going on with this kid's Pokémon? It's attacking on its own?"_Vent pondered this for a second. "Slakoth, don't move…"Vent instructed, the sloth Pokémon already seemed to know where this was going. It stood its ground, so to speak, and took a direct hit from the Ice Beam and luckily it didn't freeze. It then mustered up its strength and rammed into the Mudkip, it was using the revenge hit move, Endeavor. Endeavor was a move that reduced the opposing Pokémon's health to the same level as the Pokémon that used the move. In this case it seemed as though Doro and the Slakoth had both received a heavy amount of damage from attacking each other like that. Doro jumped back and away from the Slakoth and used Water Gun, the Slakoth, due to its ability, was unable to move.

"_Hm…yet again, his Pokémon used a move and he didn't give it any commands…are they communicating through psychic waves? No…this kid isn't psychic…even psychic trainer's Pokémon don't move this quickly when they aren't given a command…he's just standing there…ah well, whatever he's doing won't help him win…especially since Slakoth here is still holding back a good deal of his power…not to mention…"_Vent was trying to figure out how the Mudkip was attacking without commands from Damian but then decided to leave that matter alone for now and just focus on winning, he stood up. Vent was an extremely lazy Gym Leader, but Damian was actually bringing the fighting spirit out of him. "Slakoth, use Return!"

The Slakoth jumped back and then jet forward towards Doro, it moving at abnormally high speeds. Doro blasted another Water Gun at the Slakoth since it was moving too fast to dodge, the least it could do was try to lessen the impact. The hit sent Doro skidding backwards to Damian's feet, it was close to its limit. Slakoth began to glow all of a sudden and as its body turned pure white, it started to grow larger. Doro fired an Ice Beam before the glow faded. Within seconds in place of the glowing Slakoth, a new Pokémon was standing there in its place. This Pokémon was called 'Vigoroth', a vicious fighter with more energy than a raging bull. However the Vigoroth had been frozen by the Ice Beam Doro had just fired.

"You're a vicious battler…attacking while my Pokémon was evolving…and since it had been hit by the Water Gun, the chance of Ice Beam freezing it was drastically increased…however what you probably didn't realize is that…"Vent closes his eyes, yawned and stretched. When he opened his eyes you could see the seriousness, the fire for battle in them, Vent wasn't going to take this battle against Damian lightly now. "That Vigoroth are the most _HOT _blooded and energetic Pokémon and it can use one extremely powerful attack!"

As Vent said these words, his Pokémon broke free from the free. It was immediately blasted by another Water Gun. The Vigoroth dodged the move and its hand began to give off a tremendous energy as it rushed forward towards Doro. It seemed however Doro knew what was coming, it didn't even need to use the fin on its head to tell. It simply stood its ground, taking the full force of the 'punch' from Vigoroth. As it was hit by the attack it slammed its tail into the Vigoroth but it didn't do much. "That was a focus punch, the strongest fighting type move. It may not be super effective, but your Mudkip is not going to be able to withstand that blow so you might as well switch to your next Pokémon…wait, what the hell?"Vent couldn't believe his eyes, Doro was still standing, just barely though. "Tough little guy huh? Sorry but you can't beat Vigoroth!"

Doro smiled, its legs were shaking, but it knew something that Vent didn't. "Look again Vent…"Damian finally spoke out, he pointed to Vigoroth who was actually out cold but still standing, this was probably due to its pent up energy from when it was a Slakoth, it would keep standing till it's body was worn out. Vent was completely shocked by this however, he smiled.

"Heh, guess I got over confident, I shouldn't have let my guard down just because my Pokémon evolved. You used counter, didn't you? That's why Vigoroth went down, It was hit with double the power of its own attack…"Vent sighed as he withdrew his Pokémon. "_Heh, sorry buddy… You evolved, I thought we had this in the bag, but I was overconfident and I let you down…this kid is something though, his Mudkip used counter as if it already knew what I was going to do and it didn't even use it's fin by the looks of it._"Vent threw his second Pokéball to the field and from it came forth the Pokémon that Vent had used to save Damian from the Zubat back in the cave, it was none other than Smeargle. "This is my last Pokémon, the Painter Pokémon. Let's see if you can match it in power…"

"Hey uh, I'm just going to call a TKO on Doro okay? He may want to go on but he's hurt pretty bad, I'm not gonna let it fight in this condition."Damian said as he scratched the back of his head and withdrew Doro. He took out his Pokédex. "_Eon's a normal type so he won't be very effective against Smeargle, especially with the moves he knows. Taking that into consideration and the nature of this Pokémon, who knows what skills this Pokémon knows, after all, its signature move is Sketch. Well, let's do this! Looks like I'll be using you…Crow._"Damian looked at the Pokéball containing the Golbat he had caught. It seemed very sad about what it did to Damian, even though he hadn't been the target. Damian just smiled, he tapped his ear for a few seconds and threw the Pokéball. "Come on out, Crow!"

The Golbat let out a screech as soon as it came out of its Pokéball. "Alright, Crow use Heat Wave!"Damian said.

"_Wait, he's giving commands now? …Is it because he just caught this Pokémon recently…wait, If that's the case why does it know Heat Wave? Golbat can only learn that through being thought how. If he caught it recently that also means it was probably the one that bit him and the one that attacked. It must've been weary of Pokémon trainers…since it most likely had one and was abandoned by him or her…"_Vent thought. "Smeargle, dodge with Teleport and then attack with Extreme Speed!"

The Golbat flapped its wings and let out blazing gale force winds, however the Smeargle simply warped out of the way. It slammed into Crow full force from behind. The attack was even stronger because Smeargle and the move it had used were both Normal types. Crow returned, it didn't even look damaged at by the attack however.

"Tch…how's it able to attack like that?"Damian muttered. "Crow get in close and use Leech Life!" Crow flew towards Smeargle at high speeds.

"Heh…didn't you learn from using Heat Wave? We can dodge your attack! Smeargle, Teleport and use Extreme Speed!"Vent commanded, he was getting really into this battle and he hadn't felt this kind of rush from a challenge in a while. Smeargle once more dodged with teleport, it appeared behind Crow. "You were saying, 'how is it able to attack like that' correct? Sketch, the signature move of Smeargle, has allowed it to copy the moves of Pokémon it has encountered in the past, that's why it knows Extreme Speed and Teleport!"

"No, I didn't mean that, I meant how it can attack while it's confused. I mean, it's used three moves without falling all over itself. I know it doesn't have 'Own Tempo' as its ability, I scanned it with my Pokédex and found that much out when you set it out. Its ability is 'Technician', so it can't avoid being confused, that's all."Damian chuckled. Smeargle was just standing there behind Crow in a daze, it fell and hit the floor. Crow used Leech Life, it bit into the Smeargle while it was down and still confused, however the pain snapped the Pokémon right out of it. Crow drained a bit of Smeargle's vitality and backed away, it couldn't take too much or it wouldn't be able to move as fast.

"Confused? Tch, how'd this happ-"Vent's eyes widened. He remembered how Damian had tapped his ear just before throwing the Pokéball and how Golbat used let out a screech as it came out of its Pokéball. "You signaled Golbat to use Supersonic while it was still in its ball…clever…heh, damn. It has been a whie since I've had a battle THIS satisfying. You're one hell of a challenger! Smeargle…ICE SHARD!"

Smeargle created a blue energy ball in its hand and flung it towards the opposing Golbat, from the ball burst forth a barrage of icicles. They were flying fast, but Crow wasn't a slow Pokémon itself.

"Hey, you're not half bad yourself!"Damian said with a grin. "Trying to land a super effective with a fast move like Ice Shard huh? Well then Crow, use Heat Wave one more time! Burn through the shards!"The bat Pokémon flapped its wings with more force than it had during its previous attack. The Heat Wave was much stronger than before, it melted the Ice Shards and kept going fast. Smeargle was hit before it got the chance to move out of the way. It had been hurt very badly by the attack and it afflicted with a 'burn' status, white smoke rising from its body.

"Ha ha. You landed an attack that's three times more powerful than normal…a critical hit. This is it…the last one. Smeargle use **HEAT WAVE**!"Vent roared. The weakened Pokémon used the last bit of strength it had and unleashed a power blazing gale from its mouth. The attack moved at the even greater speeds than the one Crow had fired. The Golbat was blasted by the attack, it was abnormally high in power.

"Critical hit…"Damian said disdainfully. "However, Crow is still able to go since he isn't burned like your Smeargle". The Golbat continued to fly in place, it was at very low health however Smeargle would faint any second now from the afflicted burn. The Smeargle was down to its last bit of vitality, more of the white smoke rose from its body and it fell forward onto the grass. Vent laughed, he had lost to Damian but he wasn't upset in the least. He withdrew Smeargle and as he did, the 'Second Space' flashed and faded away, they were now back in the gym, the gentle breeze that was blowing in the field had stopped. Damian gave Crow a thumbs up, the Pokémon looked very happy to have been of some help in this battle and Damian then withdrew him. Vent reached into his pocket and pulled out the badge he had to award to Damian since he had won. It was 'Trainer' badge, the design was simple. It was basically a flat Pokéball, the top was red in the front and white in the back and vice versa for the bottom. "That's your first official Pokémon league badge, the Trainer Badge makes it so Pokémon up to level 30 will obey you and the success rate of your Pokéballs will actually increase a bit, so you'll probably have an easier time when trying capture Pokémon. I'd recommend heading to Teslite town and challenging the leader there."Vent explained. "Come on, let's go get out Pokémon healed, they're pretty banged up after that battle."

Damian nodded and the two headed out of the gym, it was around eight o'clock and just across the street and back into the Pokémon center. The nurse seemed worried but took their Pokéballs and put them in the recovery machine. As soon as the Pokémon were healed, the lights in the Pokémon center went out. "What the-"Damian looked around in confusion. "A blackout?"

"…It's back…"Vent scowled. It was as if he knew the blackout hadn't happened normally, as if it had been caused by something. "Rotom… Tch, looks like it's time to make a call."Vent said taking out his Pokégear.

"To who? The Ghost Busters?"Damian asked half-serious. He looked up 'Rotom' in his Pokédex and it said it was part Ghost part Electric type.

"No, to the guy who has been after this Pokémon for weeks and is the only who has ever managed to get close to Rotom."Vent explained "Gym Leader of Teslite Town, the 'Energized Enemy' Theo Kobayashi". The call failed. "Looks like the phone lines are dead…you're lucky kid, I'm about to save you the trip to Teslite Town. Come on out Smeargle! Teleport us to Teslite Town!" Vent threw the Pokéball and Smeargle burst forth from it. The Smeargle grabbed both Damian and Vent's hands and they all disappeared in a flash.


	5. Forest Frenzy: Vs Demon Trainer

Vent's Smeargle had used teleport. The trio, being made up of Damian Vent and his Smeargle, were turned into light itself by this move. Moving at the speed of over one hundred and fifty thousand miles per second, before even time could move forward they had arrived. The light took shape and faded out, the three of them had returned to physical form. Something was off though. Their chosen destination was the town of Teslite, a very urban place. There was no trace of buildings, no; there were only trees and leaves surrounding them. What was even stranger was that the trees did seem to be rooted into the ground. In fact, they looked as if they were just floating in the air, endlessly growing out of one another. Not much light seemed to make it passed the trees, but there was just enough to be able to see the paths ahead.

"What the heck? I thought we were going to a town… I don't see any houses around here. You sure this is it Vent?"Damian questioned as he took in his surroundings. "Are they like…uh…up in these…I…think these are trees…but…they're growing really weird. What is with this place?"

"This isn't Teslite Town; we're at the half way point. There's a place in between Raslex Town and Teslite Town. We're in that very place, Erolend Forest."Vent let out a heavy sigh and withdrew Smeargle and sat down. "We are so boned…_whenever someone gets pulled into this place; they always get sucked into some kind of trouble. Guess I should've expected it though."_

"Why are you worried, even if Smeargle can't get us to Teslite Town, I've got a Pokédex. Apparently these things have some kind of GPS system, we can find out where we are and just walk to Teslite Town."Damian grinned as he pulled out his Pokédex.

"It won't be of any use here."Vent clutched the right side of his forehead lightly as he leaned back against a tree, his palm covered his right eye. He ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. Damian had meanwhile attempted to use the map feature on his Pokédex but it ended up displaying an error message.

**Area Unknown: No Signal**

"Well that just figures. On to plan B! Maybe Crow can help. I could have him fly up above the trees or something. Does Teslite Town have any distinctive features, like a tower or something?"Damian questioned calmly. If you took one look into his eyes though, it was easy to tell he was confused.

"No tower, but Teslite Town is _really_ bright, their power plant is one of four…well, three in the Proto Region. There was a fourth but…yea."Vent said leaving the story unfinished. Damian didn't pursue the issue further.

"Alright."Damian reached into his pocket and pulled out a Pokéball. He threw it up into the and out of it popped the Golbat. "Crow, try to get above the trees and find a bright light. It's getting pretty dark so it should be hard to miss if vent's description is accurate."

Upon Damian finishing his orders, the Golbat flew upwards as fast as it could. Within the minute it was out of sight and the loud sounds of its wings flapping faded away. All that was left was an eerie silence. "This place is seriously creepy. What is with these trees, aren't they supposed to be growing from the _ground_?"Damian shivered for a second, he shook his head. The fearful look on his face quickly went away, it was like he quite literally shook the feeling off.

"What most people don't realize about this forest…is that it's actually just one giant tree."Vent shook his head slowly. "A tree…with some very…mystical properties to it. I got lost in here before. If you want to leave, you're going to have to solve the problem that's troubling the tree or it won't let you leave."

"What? I'm guessing that means when you came through here there was a problem too. What was it?"Damian asked skeptically. He wasn't ready to believe a tree could do something like trap people or even grow so large but decided to humor Vent.

"Slakoth and Vigoroth. There's a reason people don't usually come through here and why you will rarely if ever encounter any wild Pokémon in this forest. The tree gives off an intense energy that can force any Pokémon that makes contact with it, to evolve into its next form no matter the level. That isn't how evolution is supposed to work and from past experience, Pokémon in the proto region know to avoid this forest unless otherwise told by their trainers. People also know to avoid the forest as there are rumors going around about it being cursed. That's why there are other ways around the forest."Vent explained, he took a deep breath and continued. "Each time a living being makes contact with the tree, some of the trees life force is drained from it. The last time I was here, Slakoth and Vigoroth had made it their home. They had apparently started off around the outskirts but eventually they reached the center of the forest, the base of the giant tree. As I told you before, any Pokémon that touches the tree end up evolving to their next form despite their level. Baby Slakoth that were not much older than a few days possibly, touched the tree and evolved prematurely into Vigoroth. If any being gains more power than it is ready to handle, what happens?"

"They….go mad with power?"Damian answered in an unsure tone.

"Mmm…yea basically. The Slakoth that evolved were far more vicious than those that had evolved naturally, they had more power than they were ready for and as a result, lost control. They began wreaking havoc and destroying everything. If something wasn't done soon, the forest could've been lost within a few days. That's probably why I was pulled in and ended up wandering this forest."Vent scratched his head.

"So…how exactly did you get sucked into it?"Damian asked tilting his head slightly to the left.

"Let's just say, like you, I had to go to Teslite Town. That time I didn't have Smeargle on my team so I couldn't have teleported even if I had wanted to. I ended up going through this forest and…I was being led to the center of it without knowing."Vent yawned after finishing his sentence.

"So…you were on a journey like me? I'm guessing you were taking the league challenge?"Damian laughed, he couldn't really imagine the thought of a lazy guy like Vent doing such a thing.

"Actually, yea. I got all the badges needed to qualify for the championship tournament. I won it too but then I learned that it wasn't the end of my challenge. I was pitted against one of the Elite Four. I gotta tell you kid, it was an epic battle but ended in a crushing defeat on my side. The guy took out my entire team with just his first Pokémon. "Vent smiled slightly. "We did have fun though. Then the chairman of the Proto Region Pokémon League committee offered me the opportunity to become a Gym Leader. I wasn't about to pass that up, so here I am. I did have to build a team to meet the regulations."

"Huh, go figure. I didn't take you for the type of person to actually accomplish all that and willingly become a Gym Leader. If you're telling the truth then I'm impressed."Damian grinned.

"I'm a Gym Leader aren't I? You think I'm lying?"Vent cocked his head.

"No, it's not that I think you're lying. It's just that if my day so far has taught me one thing it's to not take things at face value."Damian shrugged. "By the way…you said you were being 'led without knowing it' ….what's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't really know actually. Something was just telling me I should go and my body kind of just got there on its own. Like some kind of force was bringing me there."Vent attempted to put his experience into words.

"So…should I watch out for lightning shooting from the tree or something?"Damian asked chuckling, he wasn't serious, not completely at least.

"Kid, you watch _way_ too many movies. Lay off them for a while, might do you some good."Vent face palmed at Damian's comment.

"Me plenty today movies helped."Damian said trying to talk like a character from one of the movies he had seen. "Good, they are"

"Alright already, sheesh. Enough with the movie references, this isn't the time for jokes. We're seriously boned if we don't get out of this forest. Like I said before though, we have to find and fix the problem troubling this forest."Vent shook his head in frustration.

"To chill you need…erm…I mean, just chill okay? Crow will be back any second and lead us out. _Though you gotta wonder what's keeping him, it's been nearly twenty minutes since I sent him and he's by no means slow."_

Damian rubbed his neck, it was stiff since this forest was anything but relaxing and the atmosphere was getting to him. There was one again silence in the forest. The silence was soon broken as the sound of flapping wings returned. Crow was back for his little trip but the Golbat looked very disappointed.

"So which way to Teslite Town, Crow?"Damian asked with a nervous smile. He seemed to be expecting bad news. With a frown adorned on his face the Golbat gestured to his Pokéball. Damian sighed and withdrew him. "Yea, I figure that would be his answer"

"I told you kid, the forest has a problem and we've been chosen to fix it."Vent looked up. The tree's seemed to grow endlessly high, almost no traces of the sky could be seen. There was just enough for light to get through. It was nearly nine o'clock, the sun was beginning to set on this long summer day. He looked over to Damian and then got up. "Let's head to the base of the tree. The problem is probably there."

"You sure seem to know a lot about this forest…or tree, whatever. You've been here a lot, am I right?"Damian eyed Vent suspiciously. There had to be more to his relationship with this place than him visiting the forest once or twice since he seemed to know so much about it.

"Just trust me kid, at the very least I know more about this place then you do."Vent turned to face the path on his left and proceeded to walk it. After a few steps he stopped and looked back at Damian. "Come on kid, the faster we get to the center, the faster we can get out of this place. You wanna get your second badge, right?"

"Yea, yea. I'm coming."Damian groaned and trudged along. The two of them kept moving, Vent leading the way and Damian following him, lagging behind. As they made it deeper into the forest, the leaves on the trees seemed to be becoming more diverse. There were pines, normal green leaves, maple leaves. Some leaves seemed to be changing colors like they do in the fall, there were even cherry blossoms. "Wow…this place…is really weird"

"Yea, yea. You can't get out until you help the tree, I know. Can you just be quiet and walk?"Vent asked irritably.

"Not _that!_"Damian yelled. "I'm talking about all of these different leaves. All of it from just one tree? That's not normal"

"Oh…sorry. This tree is very special kid. It's older than…well, it's older than anything I can think of really."Vent said scratching the side of his head. A chill vent up Vent's spine.

"Is it just me or did it get _really_ freaking cold all of a sudden?"Damian asked in between shivers. His teeth began to chatter.

"I've got a really bad feeling all of a sudden, let's hurry to the center."Vent yelled as he made a mad dash for the base of the tree. Damian ran after him as fast as he could. The two of them ran for almost ten minutes, ducking and practically diving out of the way of some of the lower growing trees. Eventually they made it to a clear. Vent got there about a minute before Damian. What he saw before him was the very thing he feared. The bottom half of the tree had been almost completely frozen and it was starting to die. There were thick branches on the ground all around it.

At the spotlight, dead center of all the destruction stood a dark skinned man and his two Pokémon. A Metang on the left and a Nidorino on the right. The man stood at approximately five feet, seven inches. He wore business style clothing. Dress pants and a button down shirt and with the same color and design as the one the girl Damian had encountered before, Krystal Blitz, had on. There was a slight difference as the center of the shirt, where the buttons were, was a pure white. Hearing Damian's footsteps the man turned around to reveal he was about the same as Vent. On his face was a pair of thin, transitions lens glasses. The light shined off them in a way that made his eyes impossible to see. The guy pushed his glasses up with his middle finger.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to the tree?"Vent roared.

"Well, either your brain dead or you just like asking stupid questions. I'm destroying it as you can plainly see. Anything else? Would you like to ask me what color the sky is?"The guy responded in a mocking tone. The arrogance was flowing off this guy in waves and it only served to anger Vent further.

"Are you out of your damn mind? Do you even have the slightest inkling as to what it is?"Vent ran at the man practically fuming. "I won't let you do any more damage to this place!"

Vent flung his right fist at the guy's face, the punch curved as it went towards his right cheek. The guy simply leaned back slightly and the punch curved away from his face. Leaning forward as it passed the guy jabbed Vent right in the stomach causing him to double over in pain. Vent stumbled backward and fell.

"You…that pattern on your clothing. You're a friend of that Krystal Blitz girl! Why are you people showing up everywhere I go and why the heck do you want to destroy the tree? It's not hurting anyone!"Damian stepped forward, he was so focused on the guy standing there that he didn't even notice Vent's actions or that he was on the ground in pain.

"I could ask you the same question, why do you show up where ever we go? As for the girl you mentioned, she is not my friend. I have no personal involvement with her, we're simply on the same team."The guy replied calmly. "I have my reasons for wanting this tree destroyed and they are none of your concern"

Damian took a Pokéball out of his pocket. "Don't get in my way."

"You're the one getting in _my_ way you imbecile."The man shook his head irritably.

"Damian."Vent coughed as he got back up on his feet. "I'll handle him, you won't be able to beat him at your current level. _Ack…this hurts a lot, that was one hell of a punch this guy threw."_

"Huh? Oh hey…dude, what happened to you?"Damian asked in confusion.

"Y…you're serious? …Never mind."Vent face palmed. He stood up straight and winced in pain as he did.

"Nidorino, keep up the Ice Beam. Freeze it as much as possible, we can't have it thawing out and recovering."The guy commanded his Pokémon while Damian and Vent were distracted.

"You take care of the Nidorino, I'll handle the Metang." Vent said and reached for something behind his back. He threw a Pokéball he pulled out from his back pocket and the Pokémon the emerged let out a loud bellow and snorted. It was Tauros, the wild bull Pokémon and a strong one. "_You were the last Pokémon I caught before becoming a gym leader and you're the only one I had stay with me. I'm counting on you Tauros."_

Damian immediately took out his Pokédex and scanned the Pokémon. The level alone blew his mind; it was at a much higher level than Vent's Gym Pokémon.

"You want to battle me? Fine, let's see what you've got. Metang, Bullet Punch."The guy ordered and his Pokémon rocketed at Tauros instantly. Its sharp claws connected with the Tauros, hitting it dead center in the head, right between the horns. Despite this the Tauros seemed unaffected.

"Tauros, don't take that from him, show him your power. Payback!"Vent cheered. The Tauros bellowed as it pushed away the Metang's claw and rammed into it full force. The damage to Metang was severe since it had hit Tauros first; the power of Payback double and the force behind the attack was enough to make it airborne. Tauros lifted its front legs up and stomped the ground, several razor sharp stones shot from the ground and toward Metang. "Stone Edge!"

"Metang, use Bullet Punch to get out of the way."The guy said with a smile on his face. The Metang rocketed out of the way of the stones. It returned to the ground looking almost completely unharmed.

"Tch…_come on…hit us close range on more time…"_Vent thought to himself as he gritted his teeth. Damian watched the two of them go at it in awe. When his gaze shifted away from the battle, he snapped out of it and turned his attention to the Nidorino that was freezing the tree with Ice Beam.

"_Alright first things first, I've got to defrost the tree before I take out Nidorino. Looks like I'll have to distract the Nidorino while Crow uses Heat Wave to melt the ice."_Damian threw the Pokéball he was holding at the Nidorino to try and get its attention away from the tree and onto him. The Pokémon angrily turned towards Damian and fire the Ice Beam at him instead. "Oh shi-"

Damian dove out of the way of the attack, narrowly evading being frozen by it. The Nidorino angrily fired more and more Ice Beams at Damian who had to duck, roll and dive out of the way of the attacks. With each shot the attacks seemed to be getting stronger oddly enough. The Nidorino stopped firing when it noticed it was running out of power for the move. It switched to firing Poison Stings from the spikes on its back. "Ah crap, this thing got really angry really fast!"Damian yelped as he ran from the Pokémon.

Damian dodged these much more easily than the Ice Beams he just had to run away now. The Nidorino chased after him around the forest. They traveled in a full circle eventually reaching the tree again. By this point Crow had already melted all the ice away and now flew to aid its trainer. When the Nidorino finally realized what was going on it begins to get even angrier and gives off an intense energy for a few seconds.

"_Focus Energy huh? He must have just caught this one recently, it doesn't seem too well trained and the fact that it can battle without him means it's using its wild instincts."_Damian smirked. "Crow, use Supersonic!"

The Golbat let out a piercingly high screech which caused the Nidorino to become confused. Instead of charging at Crow, it charged at the tree and impacted with it. Its body began to glow all white and started to expand and contract rapidly. While this was going on, the battle between Vent's Tauros and the mysterious guy's Metang raged on. Neither side seemed to be showing any signs of backing down and the battle had strayed away from its original location now occurring pretty far away from the base of the tree.

"Metang, Psychic. Toss it into the air!"The guy commanded, his tone seemed be getting darker and darker as the battle progressed. There was a glint in his eyes as if he was going to do something big. The Metang focused its mind on Tauros. Tauros began to glow and rise up into the air. It bellowed in pain as though it was being crushed, then flew up high into the air at high speeds, the glow disappearing along the way. "Fly up there and use hammer arm!"

The Metang rotated its arms to face backwards and rocketed at the Tauros at speed of sixty miles per hour. Vent could only look on in horror as his Pokémon was about to take a lot of damage. Upon getting within attacking range of its foe, the Metang rotated its right arm forward quickly, slamming it into Tauros.

"Say goodbye to Tauros! Metang, Bullet Punch it as it falls!"The guy said in an almost psychotic way. He began to snicker and then laugh wildly; this still wasn't the end of his assault. The Metang impacted with Tauros while it was still in the air and boosted the speed of its fall. Tauros hit the ground with Metang right on top of it. "Now…the pièce de résistance! So you know never to stand in my way again. Metang….EXPLOSION!"

"You bastard! STOP!"Vent cried out in horror and anger, this guy was vicious as they come. He ran for Tauros before Metang could explode but it was too late. The Metang charged up every ounce of its power and let it lose in one massive explosion. The force of the explosion blew Vent away, sending him flying into a thick tree branch and knocking him out. He fell to the ground next to his Tauros, lying in the crater left by the attack, looking burned and broken. The Metang was nowhere to be seen. Blue shards of metal flew in several directions and then, as if it was completely normal, they flew back together and took their original shape, as Metang. It was unconscious after attack and the trainer withdrew it.

The explosion had caught Damian's attention but he looked over too late to see what had happened. As one battle came to an end, another began. Where the small Nidorino was standing before, now stood a steaming mad Nidoking in its place.

"It…It evolved!"Damian's eyes widened. Its trainer ran over to it.

"It…can't be. Ha ha…what an interesting development we have here. Maybe this tree isn't what's going to be the trigger. Ah well, what's done is done."The guy laughed.

"You…Where's Vent?"Damian looked at him in fear, there was an explosion where this guy and Vent were battling and he had walked away without even so much as a scratch.

"Oh he's dying in the crater over there next to his beloved Tauros."The guy laughed. Damian's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. He stumbled back and fell down out of sheer shock.

"_This guy is a real monster, he would go as far as to kill a trainer."_Damian thought, he shook his head as though he was denying what he had just heard and thought. "W….Who are you?"

"You want to know my name?"The guy grinned, his eyes still weren't visible due to what seemed like light shining on his glasses. "You can call me…Kadishu. You know, I'm not all bad so I'll make you a deal. I'd rather not have a murder charge on my head so I'll tell you what. If you can defeat my Nidoking, I'll leave you and your friend alone for now. You can get to him to the hospital or whatever you want."

"A-and if I lose?"Damian reluctantly asked, he was overcome with a strong feeling of déjà vu, and not in a good way.

"Then you and your friend die here. Simple as that. If you refuse, I could just kill you now."Kadishu said with a straight face.

"_I'm not gonna die here…I'm not gonna let Vent die here…I will live….I will win, no matter what."_Damian stood up, the fear had left him and all that was left was determination. "Crow, use Heat Wave!"

"Nidoking….Ice Beam."Kadishu smirked. His Nidoking roared and pointed its horn at the Golbat and fire an immensely powerful Ice Beam, almost triple the size of those it that it fired as a Nidorino. The beam met the Heat Wave and literally overtook it turning into an icy wind and sending it back at Crow. The Pokémon took the full force of the attack and was not only knocked out, but frozen solid.

"How is that even possible! They're almost the same level! Fire is supposed to beat Ice!"Damian yelled. "Unless…since your Nidoking has evolved it has boosted stats….and if its ability is…"

"Bingo. My Nidoking has the special ability known as Rivalry. When facing Pokémon of the same gender the base power of its moves goes up twenty five percent."Kadishu grinned.

"_Tch…damn it…damn….damn it….Crow was the strongest one I had. Eon doesn't have the power….Doro has type advantage but I don't know how much good it'll do against this beast. There's no choice at this point…Doro, come through for me, I'm counting on you…and I'm sorry" _Damian withdrew Crow and put its Pokéball away. As he did he pulled out another one and threw it up. From it emerged Damian's only chance at victory, his Mudkip, Doro.

"You can't be serious kid. You honestly think a base form Pokémon can defeat one that has evolved twice and is nearly triple its level? You're more moronic than that other trainer and his Tauros."Kadishu mocked Damian, he was utterly disappointed by this. "Looks like you're going to die today. Too bad. Nidoking…Double Kick"

The giant purple beast rushed at the small Mudkip and kicked it like a soccer ball sending it rolling back towards Damian. The Nidoking skidded back a few feet after kicking Doro. Doro had instinctively used Counter to send all the damage it would take back at its attacker at double the power. It wasn't nearly enough and the Nidoking had plenty of fight to spare.

"_DAMN IT! What the hell can I do against this opponent, he has way more power than any of my Pokémon and Doro is about to reach his limit…I can't die here…"_Damian held his head in his hands and let out a scream. He then suddenly stopped. He had thought of one thing that could possibly help this situation and maybe, just maybe, tip the scale in his favor. "Doro face away from Nidoking"

The Mudkip looked at Damian and did as instructed. It was on the verge of collapse but it wasn't giving up yet. Kadishu laughed. "So you're going to give up?"Kadishu asked, with an evil grin plastered on his face.

"Use Water Gun, aim at the floor!"Damian exclaimed. What was he trying to accomplish with this strange maneuver? The Mudkip shot the blast of water out of its mouth and at that floor, the water sending it rocketing away at an angle.

"_He has officially lost his mind."_Kadishu thought as he shook his head. Then he noticed the direction in which Doro was being pushed by the water gun. It was headed for the tree! "Oh so that's what you're trying to do huh? Not a chance. Nidoking, freeze the water!"

Blue energy charged at the tip of Nidoking's horn and it fire a beam of cold blue energy at the water Mudkip had fired. The water froze completely solid but Mudkip kept flying, only much slower, it had stopped firing the water gun as Nidoking fired its Ice Beam.

"Water Gun, aim for the ice!"Damian grinned. The Mudkip fire one last blast of water and when it made contact with the ice it propelled it even further through the air. Doro landed just a mere inch away from the tree. It touched the fin on its head to the tree and began to glow all white. Its form began to grow and contract rapidly just as what happened with Nidoking and within seconds rather than minutes as it took Nidoking, the Mudkip had evolved into a Marshtomp and looked fully rejuvenated. A sudden shock went through both Damian and Doro. Damian's eyes closed and were covered by shadows. He was standing completely still. "It's over for you now Kadishu"

Kadishu looked at Damian, his curiosity piqued. "Interesting…so you honestly believe you can win?" While Kadishu's attention was focused now on Damian, Doro had begun assaulting Nidoking with several blasts of its Water Gun. Being a part Ground type, Nidoking was taking double the normal damage from Doro's attack. Doro stopped for but a moment. It changed strategy and now fired an Ice Beam at the beast. The Nidoking dodged but was frozen solid. Marshtomp had moved so incredibly, and abnormally, fast that while the Nidoking was evading one beam, it got behind it and shot it point blank.

"Nidoking, Double Kick!"Kadishu roared, how could things have turned around so quickly. How was the Marshtomp moving so quickly and attacking with such ferocity without a single command from its trainer. His Nidoking broke free from the ice, but it was done, being at the very brink of exhaustion. It attempted one final kick at Marshtomp. Doro simply stopped its attack with just one foot and proceeded to blast it point blank with a water gun, sending it flying as it had done to him while he was a Mudkip. Kadishu withdrew Nidoking and once more laughed wildly. "You're an interesting one kid, somehow you won despite the odds, maybe you and I do have something in common. What's your name?"

"Damian Acacia, don't ever forget it and If I see you again…you'll be the one to die. Heh."Damian said sadistically. He didn't seem to be himself right now.

Kadishu swapped the Pokéball containing Nidoking for the one containing his Metang and threw it up. Metang burst forth from the ball, it looked much weaker but it had somehow regained consciousness. Kadishu sat down with his legs crossed on the head of his Metang. "I'll see you around, Damian Acacia…I look forward to a rematch! Ha ha ha ha!"Kadishu laughed. His Metang rotated its arm to face backwards. It began to float up into the air and rocketed away at top speed.

Damian stood still once more, completely quiet. That's when he felt a sudden jolt go up his spine. "Ugh…my freaking head…looks like we won somehow, eh Doro?"

The Marshtomp was standing perfectly still just like Damian was a second ago, its eyes were closed. "Ah, fell asleep huh? Guess I'll put you back in your Pokéball."Damian pointed the Pokéball at Doro and red beam shot from it at the Marshtomp. Doro jumped out of the way.

"Huh? Buddy, come on, get back in your Pokéball."Damian said and attempted to withdraw Doro again. Doro dodged the beam once more. It bellowed and then fired a Water Gun at its Pokéball pushing it out of Damian's grasp and into a thick tree branch. The ball shattered on impact with the branch. "Doro…what's wrong?"

That's when it hit him. Doro was going berserk just as Vent said the Vigoroth had done. He tried to walk over to his now former Pokémon. Doro fired an Ice Beam that hit but just an inch away from Damian's foot. It bellowed once more and then dashed away firing and ice beam into the air. "Damn it…why'd I risk it...tch…I can't go after Doro…not right now, I wouldn't be able to catch up let alone catch him."

Damian sighed he walked over to the crater as fast as he could. He saw Vent and Tauros both lying on the floor looking as if they were already dead. He checked Vent for a pulse and noticed the three pokeballs on the floor. One contained Vigoroth, one Smeargle and one that was empty. He picked up the empty Pokéball and withdrew Tauros then brought Smeargle out. "Smeargle…teleport us to Teslite Town, Vent needs to get to the Pokémon center so they can treat him…and…ugh…"

Damian began feeling dizzy; the battle had taken its toll on him as well. This whole day was one disaster after another. He fell forward and hit the ground right beside Vent. Smeargle put its hand on their shoulders; it looked as if it was about to cry from seeing its trainer so badly hurt. The three once more disappeared in a flash.


	6. Haunting Memory: A will broken by loss?

Darkness. Cold unending darkness of blackest pitch. Nothing could be seen, nothing could be heard. This was true emptiness. It seemed as though time itself had ceased moving forward though the sense of time remained. In this void of nothingness, a voice began to echo after what felt like years had passed, putting an end to the eerie silence.

"Damian….Damian, wake up."The voice whispered. "It's me-"

Just as abruptly as the voice had been heard, it was cut off and the echo faded out. The silence resumed once more. It wasn't the same though. There was a spark of light filling the darkness. Soon the light had overtaken the darkness and lines began to appear. Those lines connected and became shapes into which color faded in. An extended hand could be seen as though reaching for something it could not quite grasp. Reality had returned and the plague of darkness was over.

"It's been over a week. Well, at least you're awake."A familiar voice said. It was none other than Vent. "Welcome back to consciousness ki- I mean, Damian."

Damian had been in a comatose state just over a week, the doctors could not figure out what caused it as he had no signs of physical trauma. They assumed he would be in that state for years. Vent on the other hand appeared to be unscathed despite having been hit by the explosion from the Metang's last attack. His injuries were external and not too bad so he was easy enough to heal. The environment was obviously the hospital part of the Pokémon Centers. Damian was beginning to feel like he had been in and out of these places as frequently as he had taken a breath.

"Oh yeah, you had a visitor, uh…Jake…or was it James…no wait, it was…Jack something. He said he was a friend of yours. Said something 'bout your mom telling him to come check on you."Vent said scratching the back of his head in uncertainty.

"Jack was here? Is he okay?"Damian asked in a daze. He was still a bit hazy after having just woken up after being comatose for over a week.

"Yea, he's fine. Though he was covered in a crap ton of dust, that's it though."Vent responded with a laugh.

Damian shook his head and hopped out of the bed he was in and stretched. Next to his bed were two Pokéballs. Damian picked them up and all of it came flooding back. He remembered what happened in the 'forest'. Doro had gone berserk and fled after destroying its Pokéball. The thought along was enough to break whatever spirit he had at the moment as he quickly laid back down pulled the covers over his head as if trying to sleep off a bad hang over. As he did this his friend Jack walked into the room with a can of orange soda in his hand.

"Hey! You're awake! What're you doing back in bed dude?"He asked after taking a big gulp of the drink. He hadn't realized that Doro had run away yet and Vent hadn't brought it up. Jack did however know something had gotten Damian down. "Come on, get up. I heard you beat Vent over here and got your first badge. Let's see just how much stronger you've gotten."

Jack had to literally drag Damian out of bed. He knew that if Damian didn't snap out of it and distract himself soon he'd stay depressed for a long time. Jack was always the one of the two of them that knew the other well enough to get him through emotional trauma. Damian trudged along behind him, his eyes utterly void of any emotion.

The two stepped outside of the Pokémon Center and took in the scenery. The town seemed more like a city than a town; it was definitely bigger than Raslex Town. It was about noon and even though the sun was up, the lights in the city were on and they were really bright.

"Tch, I should've brought some shades!"Jack complained covering his eyes. "How the heck do the people tolerate this much brightness?"

"I dunno…"Damian responded in a uncaring tone, you could feel the sulking vibes coming off him in waves.

"Stop being so emo will you? We're about to battle for the first time in like three years. Cheer up. You love battling remember?"Jack said trying to pull Damian out of his bad mood. It wasn't really working and Damian seemed to b paying less and less attention by the minute. He almost got run over by several cars while crossing a street. Jack and Vent had to pull him back at the same time because he just wouldn't stop walking. The town was much more packed than Metroplex despite the size difference and lack of major department stores but it was a very ritzy town.

"Mmmph…I wonder how people nap in this town."Vent yawned. "It wasn't this bright back when I first came through here but I guess I should've seen this coming. That power plant was only built recently after all. Guess it does make this place seem a bit livelier so it's cool"

The group eventually made it to the Teslite Town gym only to find someone standing in front of it raging like a Gyarados. There was suddenly a rather loud beeping sound coming from Jack and Damian's Pokédex.

"What the heck? Why are they beeping like that?"Jack wondered pulling out his own Pokédex. "Oh no…it's THAT feature…that means…SHE'S here too." Jack suddenly stopped and curled up into a ball.

"THIS GYM LEADER IS OUT TOO? WHAT THE HELL! IS IT SUMMER BREAK FOR THEM OR SOMETHING? JEEZ!"The girl roared. She seemed quite irritable. "What's that annoying buzzing sound? It's giving me a headache." The girl reached into her bag and pulled out a Pokédex, it was blaring just like the ones Jack and Damian had.

"Th-that voice. Oh god, not her. Why here? Damian, you go deal with your girlfriend!"Jack said hiding behind Damian and pushing him towards her, then proceeding to hide behind Vent.

"I don't have a girlfri-"Damian attempted to say but Jack pushed him hard enough to cut him off and send him tumbling into the girl who was caught off guard and fell forward.

"Owwwww. HEY BUDDY WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOI-"The girl turned around. It was Maria. Her expression of anger turned to pure rage the moment she noticed it was Damian who had made her fall. "YOU JERK!"

"I'm sorry…"Damian said while laying face down on the ground.

"First I get attacked during the testing, then the gym leaders in Raslex and Teslite Town are both on leave, then I have the luck of running into YOU of all people. This week just keeps getting better and better."Maria grumbled, sarcasm oozing from her mouth with each sentence. She stood up and brushed herself off.

"Yea. Sorry about that. I ran into a bit of trouble getting here. Plus he was hospitalized and I couldn't just abandon him like that."Vent explained. "I'm the Raslex Town gym leader Vent Namakemono."

"So you're the one huh? Alright, I challenge you Vent Namakemono, to a gym battle."Maria replied excitedly, she hadn't gotten to take on a gym leader but she had been training her Pokémon relentlessly.

"Heh. Fine by me. I've been doing nothing but training for the past week while he was out cold. I could use a change of pace. Step into the gym here, I'll set up the 'Second Space' generator."Vent smiled, he was raring for a battle, not just because he was training for the past week, but because he had managed to capture a new Pokémon for his team that he needed to test, Buneary.

"Well, before you guys do that mind telling me where we can find an open spot for a battle?"Jack asked stepping out from behind Vent.

"You're here too?"Maria groaned as she smacked her forehead. "Well at least I can reap my sweet vengeance on you for catching that Onix I was trying to catch." She cracked her knuckles and began walking toward jack with a pissed off and yet at the same time, pleased expression on her face. Vent blocked her way by extending his arm out to stop her.

"Save it for later, you challenged me remember? Let's get started while I'm still feeling up for a battle!"Vent grinned sheepishly, he was rarely pumped up for anything but it seemed his battle with Damian had changed that. "Oh and if you need an open space to battle, we're near the outskirts of the city, you could head out onto the Crescendo Plains. It's a wide open area, perfect for a battle."

"Y-Yea, g-gotcha."Jack stammered, he could feel the killing intent Maria had for him. When she and Vent walked inside the gym, he sighed in relief. "Whew, that chick is insane. If there's three things that I say scare me the most it'd be darkness, clowns and Maria". He shuddered and then shrugged it off, turning to Damian who was still laying face first on the ground. Jack sighed again and pulled him up by his shirt. "Alright Mr. Bright Side, get up."

"…"Damian stayed quiet, he reached for his Pokédex and opened it. "_Why did it start beeping? It never did that when it was just me and Jack. His and Maria's started beeping too…I don't get it…I'm such an idiot…no wonder Doro ran away_"

"To the Crescendo Plains!"Jack declared raising his fist into the air and then proceeding to run. It took a few minutes before he stopped and realized Damian wasn't following so he went back and dragged him by the collar. "You're being a real downer, cut it out."

"…sorry…"Damian sighed as Jack dragged him to the plains; it took a while to get there since Damian refused to budge on his own. The Crescendo Plains was a beautiful and untouched grassland extending for well over a mile. There were Pokémon around like Chatot and Whismur that were growling what seemed to be a song, the volume of which was picking up every so often. Crescendo Plains was definitely named appropriately. Upon reaching a good forty yards into the plains Jack let go of Damian and turned to face him.

"Are you ready Damian?"Jack asked as he reached for the Pokéball containing Staravia. He tosses it up and the bird Pokémon burst forth from the sphere. It let out a cry and landed in front of its trainer.

Damian shrugged and cracked his neck. "Alright, fine Jack. If it's a battle you want, it's a battle you'll get". He threw the Pokéball containing his Golbat, Crow and the large bat Pokémon emerged let out a screech. "Crow, use Wing Attack…"

The Golbat flew at its opponent at high speeds, its wings glowing white. The Staravia however easily got out of the way simply by flying over the Golbat. This left the Golbat confused, it was of a higher level and definitely had more speed than the Staravia, so why was it unable to hit its target?

"Hey, what's up? That attack was way too easy to dodge. Get serious Damian otherwise you're gonna lose, and fast."Jack said angrily. He knew he'd have to push Damian's buttons to get him to take this battle seriously. "Staravia, use the combination we practiced!"

The bird Pokémon flew at Crow, leaving behind a trail of white light. It was using Quick Attack. The Golbat moved out of the way and as soon as it did, the Staravia disappeared, reappearing right in front of its opponent and simply flying. A few seconds later, Crow began to fly lower and lower till eventually it landed. Its wing was injured by the attack even thought it had missed.

"…Ariel Ace?"Damian asked nonchalantly. It was like he saw it coming but just didn't bother commanding his Pokémon to dodge.

"How'd you know?"Jack asked looking shocked, Damian saw through the attack with ease despite how fast it was. "Wait…if you knew, why didn't you have it dodge?"

"…Crow, use Wing Attack one more time…follow up with Heat Wave…"Damian commanded, his words didn't have their usual fire during this battle but his eyes were covered by the same shadow as they usually were during his more intense battles. Crow managed to raise itself into the air again and flew at its opponent with its wings glowing white with energy once more. However this time the bat Pokémon stopped short of its opponent and let out a flaming breath from its mouth and flapped its wings as hard as it could one time causing a gust of powerful wind to go towards the Staravia which was attempting to dodge. The wind sliced through the wings of the bird Pokémon, and the fire seared through the wounds left by the move the Golbat had just used. The attack was none other than 'Air Cutter' and when combined with Heat Wave, it was devastatingly powerful.

"Tch, you got us...that was a nice trick… that attack left Staravia unable to fly...Damn."Jack bit his thumb nail. He withdrew his Pokémon as he didn't think it'd be a good idea to push it to fight anymore with the damage it had taken. He threw another Pokéball and from it a Cubone popped out. "Cubone, use Bonemerang!"

"Dodge…"Damian said and cracked his neck. If one looked carefully enough they could see a slight smile beginning to form on his face. The battle was finally drawing his fighting spirit back, but it wasn't quit back to normal just yet.

The Cubone threw its bone at Crow who simply swayed to the right and avoided it then flew over it on the rebound. The Cubone threw the bone again this time much harder. Again, Crow just moved slightly and got out the way but this time, at the last second, it used Heat Wave on the bone. Cubone tried to avoid it but was hit with the force of its own attack coupled with Heat Wave on the rebound.

"Tch. You're just screwing with us now. Heh…well at least you're being more serious than you were a few minutes ago."Jack grinned. "Cubone, use dig!"

The Pokémon did as its trainer instructed and dug underground. It tunneled underneath Crow and then threw its bone at the Pokémon as a surprise attack. Crow evaded but was hit on its injured wing. The Pokémon kept flying despite this but after taking two direct attacks it was definitely at low health. The Cubone once more dug underground to try and catch Crow off guard. Damian however was ready for it this time.

"Heat Wave…"Damian commanded. The Golbat flew over the hole that Cubone had left and let out an ear piercing screech, half way through instead of just sound, it let out another blaze from its mouth. It packed enough power to force Cubone out of the underground.

"_So this is his real power… I almost regret challenging him…almost._"Jack thought as he decided to wing it with one last attack. "Cubone, use Bonemerang one more time!"

The Cubone was dazed from the attack it had taken, it threw the Bonemerang but with such little force that it only traveled a few inches before coming back and hitting it in the stomach. The little Pokémon was out cold. Jack withdrew his Cubone and reached for his next Pokémon.

"This is my last one since Abra hasn't learned any offensive moves yet. I just caught it, so I don't know how to battle with it just yet but I guess now's a good a time as any. Come on out, Onix!"Jack yelled as he threw the last Pokéball. From it emerged the massive rock serpent, Onix. "It all comes down to this Damian. I'm not gonna hold back at all!"

"...ha…ha ha ha…ha ha ha ha ha!"Damian began to laugh, a grin plastered on his face. He looked at Jack, the fire once more in his eyes. "Damn it feels good to be back, I don't really know what happened but...let's do this Jack! Bring it on!"

"You're back to your old self! About damn time, finally man. Thought you were lost for good!"Jack yelled with a grin. "Come on bro, show me what you've got! I'll even give you the courtesy of letting you switch Pokémon."

Damian smirked as he withdrew Crow. "_You did good, I'm proud of you Crow…and thanks_". Damian grabbed his only other Pokéball, the Cherish Ball containing Eon. He threw the Pokéball up and the silver colored Eevee burst out of it. "_Alright buddy…it's been a while since we last battled. I hope you're as pumped as I am!_"

"Onix, use Screech and follow up with Bind!"Jack said clenching his fist and gritting his teeth in excitement. He had never actually battled Damian seriously before and he was enjoying himself. The Onix let out a loud roar which increased in pitch dramatically within seconds. Eon closed its eyes with a pained look on his face since his ears were hurting from the screech, it began letting off a white light from its tail. The Onix took the opportunity to follow up with its second attack and wrap its tail around the little Pokémon. It began to clench the Eevee but before it even realized what had happened, Eon had vanished. The little Eevee appeared on the tip of the Onix's tail and began to run up its body.

"Good, you used Quick Attack to get of the way. Follow up with Return!"Damian commanded, his confidence was returning. Eon quickly bolted up the Onix and pushed away from it, flipping over in the air and landing on its feet. The force generated by the jump caused the Onix to collide with the ground. Return was a move that grew stronger as the Pokémon and its trainer grew closer as partners. The Onix took the brunt of the attack and easily recovered from it. It wasn't anywhere close to going down due to the fact the move hadn't been very effective because of its type. "Heh, tough as nails. Guess I shouldn't expect any less of a Rock and Ground type."

"Onix, use dig!"Jack yelled out. The Onix curved up and the burrowed underground. Since the Pokémon was so large, it caused small tremors as it moved around. Eon stood still, trying to determine the origin of the tremors. Its left ear twitched and dodged to the right as the Onix began to come out from underground on its left. Damian closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Time seemed to slow down for a few seconds as he did so. He was able to clearly see the motion of Onix though it was much closer up, as though he was looking through the eyes of something else. The head of the Onix slipped out of the ground little by little, its body followed and that's when this one part of its body emerged near the end of its tail. There was one rock that had a crack in it that went all the way around. That was its weak point and if Damian wanted to win, that's where he needed Eon to attack. His eyes shot open in a split second and Eon bolted towards the Onix, it was about to use its strongest move, Return. The Onix however, was prepared for this, its tail had begun to glow white and became a stately silver color and flew at Eon, sending the little Eevee flying on impact. "How do you like my Onix's Iron Tail? Pretty strong move wouldn't you say?"Jack grinned. "I know you saw it, the crack left from the attack earlier; I was actually hoping you would."

"Don't get too happy Jack, you may have landed a clean hit on us, but Eon's not done yet!"Damian said as he gripped his left arm. He felt a sudden surge of immense pain go through it when Eon was hit and he didn't understand why. The Eevee on the other hand seemed relatively unscathed. "_Ugh…it feels like I took that attack instead of Eon…ack…why am I in pain all of a sudden? It's like what happens sometimes when I get into an intense battle…I end up exhausted afterwards and my body starts to ache. This is the first time I've ever felt the pain during a battle though. Is something wrong with me?_"

"Huh, you'd figure that'd do a lot more damage than it did. Tch. Oh well, Onix, use Bind!"Jack said as he punched the air out of excitement. "_His Pokémon doesn't look like it took any damage from that attack…but why? It's not like Eevee has a resistance or immunity to Steel-Type moves, it's a Normal-Type...and it's not an evolved Pokémon. This is all really weird but can't dwell on that, need to focus on this battle._"

Damian bit his lower lip, trying to resist the urge to scream in pain and just then, he got an idea. "Eon use Rest!"He called out to his Eevee who did as instructed and fell asleep. The pain Damian was feeling faded almost instantly however it came back the second the Onix landed its attack.

"Bad move Damian, bad move!"Jack snickered. "Onix, use Screech one more time". The stone serpent closed its mouth, leaned its head back and then roared at the Eevee that it was crushing with its tail. The Eevee was still asleep but if one looked over at Damian, they could see just how much damage was being done, the pained expression on his face getting worse with each second. Damian eventually lost consciousness, but he stayed standing. Seconds later, his eyes opened, but everything was moving slow like before, he was looking into the mouth of the Onix that was attacking Eon. It was as if he was looking through Eon's own eyes. "_Shadow Ball!"_

The Eevee opened its own mouth and charged a ball of dark energy up and firing it into the mouth of Onix. The serpent was blown back by the attack as it was not only hit in a weaker part of its body, but on the inside and by surprise. Its grip on Eon loosened enough for the Eevee to slip away and bounce of the Onix as it had done before, the impact sent Onix skidding away but that wasn't the end. While in mid-air, the Eevee began to let off a white light. It practically flew at the Onix and rammed into full force, finally putting an end to the battle. Eon, almost immediately afterwards, curled up into a ball and fell asleep. Jack's jaw dropped. His Onix, which was almost the same level as Eon, which had high physical defense and decent physical attack, had been knocked out cold by the little silver Eevee. He scratched his head, utterly dumbfounded, and withdrew Onix. He chuckled to himself.

It was right at that moment that Damian fell onto his back, his eyes closed. "_What…What the hell was that? Was I…was I looking through Eon's eyes? No…It couldn't be…could it?"_Damian wondered, the experience felt familiar but at the same time he couldn't remember ever going through it before. "Jack…great battle…"

"Yea, likewise man!"Jack responded cheerfully. He walked over and extended his hand to Damian. "Come on, let's get back to the gym."

"…heh, Yea…hey Jack?"Damian reached out grabbed Jack's hand.

"Yea?"Jack replied as he pulled Damian up onto his feet. "What's up dude?"

"Thanks man. I don't know what happened to me but I really owe you one dude. You're a good friend."Damian smiled.

Jack laughed. "Ah come on dude, we're buds, I'm just glad you're back to normal! Your emo phases always make the mood so crappy."

"Oh shut up! Heh."Damian and Jack both laughed, making their way back to the gym in Teslite Town. Damian's fighting spirit had returned after the devastation of losing his Pokémon, he was now determined to get his Pokémon back and keep moving forward.


End file.
